YORK COUNTY — As municipal and county officials tally up damage from last weekend’s storm, they’re bracing themselves for the possibility of another storm later this week.
Coastal communities like Saco, Biddeford and Kennebunk were hit hard over the weekend as waves pounded the coastline at high tide as the remnants of a powerful nor-easter lingered into Sunday.
Saco Fire Chief John Duross said there were numerous streets in coastal neighborhoods damaged from the storm that would need to be rebuilt. The parking lot at the Camp Ellis pier, which is used heavily in the summer was also damaged, he said.
He said Monday that city officials were still gathering information and hadn’t made an official assessment of the damage, though a “very very preliminary” estimate was “somewhere near” $500,000.
In addition to city infrastructure improvements, there was a lot of work to be done with removing debris that washed up onto the streets and cleaning up the beach, said Duross. Also, there was heavy use of city resources as staff from police, fire and public works were on hand through all tide cycles during the nor’easter and its aftermath.
Kennebunk Police Department posted on Facebook Sunday night that a part of Beach Avenue that runs alongside Mothers Beach was closed until further notice.
David Francoeur, Deputy Director of York County Emergency Management Agency praised the emergency management efforts of the municipalities hit by the storm, saying that they had all done a good job.
“There’s quite a bit of damage up and down the coast,” he said.
Franceour said county officials were out Monday using drones to take footage of storm damage.
Francoueur said that data is being collected throughout the county to determine if the area will be eligible to apply for federal emergency disaster funding.
Duross said he had his eye on the weather forecast for Wednesday, as the National Weather Service has declared a winter storm watch Wednesday night into Thursday.
He said he was concerned the city could get hit hard from the predicted storm later this week before it had time to recover from the most recent storm, but, he said, should the storm hit, city staff would be out working hard as it always does during storm events.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com
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