Twin Storms Devastated Maine Coast, Might Make It Hard To Obtain Lobster

A location in Harpswell, Maine before the
storms this January.........

As we know, the twin windstorms on January 10 and 13 caused a LOT of damage in Vermont. 

But if you think it was bad here, check out coastal Maine. Looking back at last weekend, Maine took a devastating blow.  

As Bangor Daily News reports:

"High water levels in the Gulf of Maine along with heavy winds and heavy rain conspired with the larges high tide of the season to hammer parts of the coast on Saturday. Portland hit a record tide after nearing one in the Wednesday storm. Gusts exceeded 50 mph in many areas while the massive tide came in over the weekend."

That record high tide of 14.57 exceeded the previous record set during the infamous Blizzard of '78 on February 7. 1978.

Damage was widespread and extensive up and down the Maine and New Hampshire coastlines. Some homes and camps were either swept out to sea or destroyed by battering waves or were swept off their foundations. 

Many homes in vacation destinations like Old Orchard Beach, Maine and Hampton Beach, New Hampshire suffered severe damage from the storm surge. 

In just one fishing and tourist town - Harpswell - the damage is amounting to several million dollars. 

The Portland Press Herald interviewed a man named Mike Chase who reported that his homeland three businesses were badly damaged by the storm tide. Per the Press Herald:

"Paddle boards and other equipment that he leases at Old Orchard Beach Watersports had floated away. His bait and tackle shop had been submerged in four feet of water. A large ice machine from his lobster roll shack wound up on the other side of the pier parking lot." 

Maine's famed lobster industry suffered awfully in the storm. The damage was most acute to the coastal infrastructure where lobster boats transfer their catch to piers, wharfs, bait houses and warehouses. 

Winter waters along the Maine coast are too rough to fix much of the damage. So the work will have to begin during the spring. Most lobsters are caught between June and the end of November, so the piers and such probably won't be ready by the time lobster season begins in earnest. 

Same location in Harpswell, Maine after the storms.

Lobster men and women and the companies that work with them have their livelihood endangered. For the rest of us, lobsters will probably become more expensive and harder to obtain. 

People tried to  have a sense of humor, though. One restaurant at Boothbay Harbor had nearly a foot of seawater inside the business at Saturday's high tide. So workers let lobsters and Jonah crabs out of the tanks and let them play on the flooded restaurant floor. 

 Another issue in Maine is the heartbreaking loss of historic buildings and sites along the coast.  emotional heartbreak. Three fishing shacks that had stood since the 1800s and been the subject of countless photographs were swept out to sea and destroyed. 

The shacks are probably going to be rebuilt because last year, architects made detailed drawings of the shacks and took 360 degree photographs. 

During the earlier storm on January 10, waves washed sand and rocks away, exposing the remains of a 1911 shipwreck. The schooner ran aground in a summer storm that year.

Maine has really been hit hard this winter, much more so than even here in storm-battered Vermont. The flooding on December 18-19 in Maine was even worse than what we experienced in Vermont. The two storms on January 10 and 13 blasted the Maine and New Hampshire coasts much more than along points south.

The January storms will go down in history as arguably the most destructive on record along the immediate Maine coast. I'd say they're  right up there with the Portland Gale of 1898 and Saxby's Gale of 1869.

Climate change is increasing the risk of more powerful, more dangerous storms. As in so many other parts of the world, that fact is setting Maine residents on edge. Sure, they'll repair the damage along the coast. But will those fixes be destroyed again sooner or later? 

Climate change is making life on the New England coast riskier and riskier.  

VIDEOS:

A cabin pulled into the water at Owl Head, Maine on Saturday is battered by waves and a surging tide. As always, click on this link or if you see the image below, click on that. 

Historic fishing shacks dating back to the 1800s shown here being swept away by the storm surge: Click here or view below.