BRISTOL, Maine — High winds and massive storm surges swept away whole homes on Wednesday in this town along Maine’s midcoast. On Friday, residents raced to clean up debris a day before a similar storm was set to strike.
Maine’s coast will be hammered around midday Saturday with storm surges of up to 4 1/2 feet that will combine with the highest tide of the season. The potential for flooding along the Down East coast is the highest observed in more than a decade, the National Weather Service in Caribou said in a Friday afternoon alert.
The storm will be particularly dangerous because of the damage caused on Wednesday to property and the dunes that guard communities from sea level rise. That was on full display in Bristol, where Gov. Janet Mills went to assess damage on Friday afternoon.
The town’s harbor completely lost half a dozen docks, and nearly every dock was damaged. Mike Prior, president of the New Harbor Co-Op, said the town was removing debris from the harbor as fast as it could and securing floats. Other than that, townspeople can only secure their property and wait.
“A lot of working men and women have lost their docks, they’ve lost their traps, they’ve lost a piece of their livelihood, really,” Alison Hanley Lee of Bristol, who has been taking debris from the beach to the transfer center in her truck, said. “For all of us here who have grown up here, it’s soul-crushing.”
In Hancock County, Andrew Sankey, the emergency management director, said his agency is working to compile a list of damage caused by Wednesday’s storm and expects to have to compile a second list after Saturday. Different storms are treated as wholly separate events when it comes to federal disaster reimbursements, he said.
“Tomorrow’s storm will be less windy but will have a greater storm surge,” Sankey said. “We’re fearful that a lot of the shoreline damage that occurred on Wednesday will repeat tomorrow.”
No evacuations have been ordered along the coast, but the Maine Emergency Management Agency has advised residents in those areas to be familiar with evacuation routes and have a plan to move quickly if their home takes damage. Mills said Mainers should stay away from the coast on Saturday to avoid being hurt by the winds and flooding from the storm.
“It goes without saying, this is not a tourist event,” she said.
People who lose power should not run generators or other heat sources that produce harmful emissions indoors, and should not wade or drive through water, Sankey said. There still are numerous electrical work crews in Maine dealing with Wednesday’s damage, he said, but they cannot work in unsafe, stormy conditions.
Acadia National Park took significant damage in Wednesday’s storm. The southern end of Schoodic Loop Road and the Otter Cove causeway on the Park Loop Road eroded, John Kelly, a park official, said. Much of the Seawall picnic area was buried with stones, part of the Route 102A at Seawall was washed out and other parts of the park also suffered spot damage.
“We have not made a decision yet about closing any park roads to vehicles on Saturday, but it’s likely given the forecast for high winds and tide,” Kelly said.
Eastport and Cutler are expected to see record flood stages, while Mount Desert Island also may see a record, with forecasts on Friday night saying the water level in Frenchman Bay will be over 16 feet above a record set on Wednesday. Beach erosion and infrastructure damage is also expected along the southern Maine coast, according to the National Weather Service.
Ahead of the governor’s news conference in Bristol, one resident pointed out the site of a house that had been swept out to sea. Later on, the owner was sifting through the rubble, with remnants of appliances and a toilet in the mud.
“Remember that what we’re looking at is also what’s not here,” Mills told reporters.
