January 30, 2024 — When back-to-back storms hit in mid-January, almost nothing in this picture postcard of a New England harbor was spared. In the heart of the state’s iconic lobster industry, the docks and leggy piers that lent Stonington harbor its scenic charm were destroyed, and the infrastructure that supports a vital industry took a massive hit.
The devastation felt by Maine’s lobster industry was an alarming warning that climate change is happening so fast, and with such seemingly cruel precision, that the scale of recovery may need to be greater than anyone had realized.
“It just came up shockingly high,” said Allison Melvin, of Greenhead Lobster, who watched as the ocean surged several feet in what seemed like a matter of seconds, buckling a conveyer belt that normally extends from its wharf down to the dock below, inundating forklifts, and lifting a tractor trailer truck used for refrigeration.