January 26, 2024 — Mainers watched in disbelief as an extraordinary combination of high winds, heavy rain, and a never-before-seen high tide caused unprecedented damage and destruction along Maine’s long jagged coast in just a matter of hours. It’ll take years for things to be completely restored.

A record-high tide and powerful storm surge on Jan. 13 destroyed generations-old fishing wharves, damaged and flooded oceanside homes, swamped neighborhoods, demolished roadways, eroded beaches and swept old fishing shacks and other structures out to sea.

In Camp Ellis, a small seaside community in the southern Maine town of Saco, the ocean washed away roads, wiped out seawalls and crashed into beachfront homes. Waters destroyed a marina pier and flooded the town-owned Camp Ellis Pier in knee-high water, leaving behind a foot-and-a-half of sand when they receded.

“I think people are still in that anxiety mode to figure out what the next step is,” said Camp Ellis homeowner David Plavin as he walked over sand-covered streets pointing out the damage. “We’re getting there, but it’ll take time.”

Maine’s coast was first hit by a torrential storm on Jan. 10 with near-hurricane winds, rain and snow, and the third-highest tide ever recorded in Portland, the state’s largest city. Still reeling from that battering, an even more-intense storm lashed three days later with an even higher tide — the highest on record — along with 20-foot waves and wind gusts up to 60 mph that wreaked havoc along the state’s 3,500-mile coastline.

Maine’s coast is a tourist destination in the summer with its beaches and rocky coast, lobster shacks and temperate weather. But one of the most pressing concerns now is the impact to the state’s working waterfronts, which fishermen and other commercial interests rely on for their livelihoods. Maine has a diverse seafood industry, known not only for lobsters but also for clams, scallops, tuna, mussels and fish species such as haddock and cod.

An aerial survey by the Maine Department of Marine Resources and reports from property owners showed extensive damage from Kittery in the south to Eastport, the nation’s easternmost city, along the Canadian border. Maine’s 15 year-round island communities also bore the brunt.

Read the full article at Courthouse News Service

January 16, 2024 — Last week’s back-to-back storms inflicted some of their worst damage on Maine’s fishing industry, and the extent of the devastation has some fishing communities considering how to be more prepared for it next time.

Working waterfront property owners along the entire Maine coast witnessed destruction as extreme winds and storm surge flooded buildings, set some adrift and tore docks apart. Some already are planning to rebuild — with sturdier and maybe higher piers in mind as they consider the future — but it’s too early to tell how long it will take and how much it might cost.

Commercial lobster docks where fishermen offload and sell their catch were damaged in Milbridge, Corea, Southwest Harbor, Stonington and New Harbor, to name a few places.