
The back deck of a house in Camp Ellis was destroyed during last year’s January storms. Eloise Goldsmith / The Courier
Last January, a series of winter storms bashed the southern Maine coastline, wreaking havoc in oceanfront towns like Saco and Kennebunk.
Saco’s Camp Ellis neighborhood and Kennebunkport’s Dock Square and Cape Porpoise were hit particularly hard, with homes experiencing damage and roads made almost impassable.
Ahead of this year’s expected winter storms, residents in the towns are taking action to protect their property.
David Plavin, a Saco resident and president of local advocacy group Save Our Shores, said last year’s storms were the worst he had ever seen.
“A house came off of its pilings in Ferry Beach,” Plavin said. “Roads were badly, badly damaged. It was extensive.”
Like many of his neighbors, Plavin had to rebuild after the storms — and likely will again.
“There’s no formula for this,” he said.
But when oceanfront homeowners are forced to build back, they build back stronger, Plavin said.
After last year’s storms took out his stone patio, Plavin replaced it with sand to keep the damage from upcoming storms minimal. Several houses in Saco have been raised up on stilts to stave off flooding.
“When you build back, you have a better idea of what to expect,” Plavin said.
While residents work to protect their homes, Plavin said the city of Saco could be doing more to prevent climate disasters.
“They are trying to come up with some solutions, but I think they need to do more,” Plavin said.

Susan Shannon sweeps water out of her store in Kennebunkport during last year’s winter storms. Gregory Rec / Staff Photographer
This month, the city has started placing sandbags at the end of passageways to the beach to help flooding. In the future, the city plans to put a sheet metal wall on North Avenue, a street in the Camp Ellis neighborhood that Plavin said gets washed out “all the time.”
But the city needs a beach management plan and a stronger coastal resiliency effort, Plavin said.
“There are other things we’d like to see done,” Plavin said. “We know these things don’t happen overnight, but we want the city to do more.”
In neighboring Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, a coastal resiliency plan has already been put in motion. In December, the Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen approved a coastal resiliency project that would raise the elevation of the Cape Porpoise pier to avoid flooding.
Damage from last year’s winter storms wreaked havoc on the pier, Town Manager Laurie Smith said.
“There was damage we saw from the January storms where we had over a foot of water on the pier and in the bait shed,” Smith said.
Coastal wetlands funding was also recently awarded to improve wetlands in Kennebunk, which will have a positive effect on climate resilience in the town.
But while these projects are set in motion, Plavin plans to just keep putting sandbags out. So far, the humble plan has worked.
“We’ve been pretty lucky this year,” Plavin said.
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