Current:Home > StocksThis photo shows the moment Maine’s record high tide washed away more than 100-year-old fishing shacks -FundCenter
This photo shows the moment Maine’s record high tide washed away more than 100-year-old fishing shacks
View
Date:2025-04-13 17:46:15
MEREDITH, N.H. (AP) — A record high tide in Maine washed away three historic fishing shacks that had stood since the 1800s and formed the backdrop of countless photographs.
Michelle Erskine said she was visiting fisherman’s point at Willard Beach in South Portland on Saturday when she captured video footage of the last two wooden shacks sliding into the ocean.
“Oh no. They’re both going. Oh no!” she can be heard saying on the video.
Erskine, who has lived in South Portland all her life, said her son had his senior photos taken at the shacks and wedding parties often visited them.
“It’s truly a sad day for the community and the residents of South Portland,” Erskine said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday. “History is just being washed away.”
The shacks, owned by the city of South Portland, had just undergone a facelift in October when they were repainted.
They were the last in a series of fishing shacks that predate the city’s incorporation after they were first built along the shore and then moved to their most recent location in the 1880s. Erskine said they once housed lobster traps and fishing gear. Two shacks were destroyed in an earlier storm in 1978.
A record 14.57-foot (4.4-meter) high tide was measured in Portland, Maine, just after noon on Saturday, after a storm surge amplified what was already the month’s highest tide, said National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Cempa. That broke the previous record of 14.17 feet (4.3 meters) set in 1978 and was the highest since measurements began in 1912. Cempa said the tide gauge measures the difference between the high tide and the average low tide.
The surge flooded some homes in Orchard Beach and Kennebunkport in Maine, and Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. It came just days after a previous storm damaged one of Maine’s most beloved lighthouses which is featured on the state quarter.
“Very sadly, all three fishing shacks at Willard Beach have been completely destroyed,” the city wrote on its Facebook page.
But the South Portland Historical Society sounded a note of hope, saying on social media that it had prepared for such an event by last year enlisting architects and engineers to create drawings “so that everything would be in place to build reproductions of the shacks, if needed.”
The society is asking for donations to rebuild.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Could your smelly farts help science?
- Secret Santa Gifts on Amazon That Understand the Assignment & They're Under $30
- U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashes off South Korea; pilot ejects and is rescued
- A New UN “Roadmap” Lays Out a Global Vision for Food Security and Emissions Reductions
- 'Most Whopper
- UN warns nearly 50 million people could face hunger next year in West and Central Africa
- Starbucks December deals: 50% off drinks and free hot chocolate offerings this month
- Swedish authorities say 5 people died when a construction elevator crashed to the ground
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- Dinosaur head found in U.K., and experts say it's one of the most complete pliosaur skulls ever unearthed
Ranking
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- Rights group says security services in Belarus raid apartments and detain election observers
- The real measure of these Dallas Cowboys ultimately will come away from Jerry World
- Our 12 favorite moments of 2023
- A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
- U.N. says Israel-Hamas war causing unmatched suffering in Gaza, pleads for new cease-fire, more aid
- Harvard president remains leader of Ivy League school following backlash on antisemitism testimony
- Big Bang Theory's Kate Micucci Shares Lung Cancer Diagnosis
Recommendation
Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
Poland’s new prime minister vows to press the West to continue helping neighboring Ukraine
In Florida farmland, Guadalupe feast celebrates, sustains 60-year-old mission to migrant workers
Can wasabi help your memory? A new study has linked the sushi condiment to a better brain
Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
How Zach Edey, Purdue men's hoops star, is overcoming immigration law to benefit from NIL
Busy Rhode Island bridge closed suddenly after structural problem found, and repair will take months
After UPenn president's resignation, Wesleyan University president says leaders should speak out against hate