Wednesday’s storm brought in massive waves along the coast, destroying the dunes at Willard Beach in South Portland.
This isn’t the first time this has happened at Willard Beach. A big storm in 2022 wiped out the dunes as well, and the city has taken steps to build them back up.
After the December 2022 storm, volunteers worked to replant the dune grass in the area to build the vegetation back up, and a few months later, the city took on a new plan to help rebuild using Christmas trees.
The $20,000 project brought in more than 100 Christmas trees, with the hope that the sand would build back up over those trees to create a stronger barrier.
But with both projects, officials said it would take years to truly build the dunes back up, and the powerful waves from this latest storm didn’t give them the chance to keep growing.
“They’re getting over the dunes,” said John Pani, who lives nearby. “They’re getting much higher than anybody thought they would go, and they’re washing out whatever’s here, so the Christmas trees were helping to rebuild the dunes but yeah, the water came higher than people thought it would and the Christmas trees are gone.”
These dunes normally protect public infrastructure and wildlife in the area, but after this storm, they’ll have to be built back up again before they do any protecting. South Portland city officials said the parks and recreation department will evaluate the damage and figure out next steps.