Current:Home > StocksThis photo shows the moment Maine’s record high tide washed away more than 100-year-old fishing shacks -Mastery Money Tools
This photo shows the moment Maine’s record high tide washed away more than 100-year-old fishing shacks
View
Date:2025-04-13 21:39:52
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! (14848)
Related
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Canada is investigating whether India is linked to the slaying of a Sikh activist
- Once a global ideal, Germany’s economy struggles with an energy shock that’s exposing longtime flaws
- United Auto Workers strike could drive up new and used car prices, cause parts shortage
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Poet Afaa Michael Weaver wins $100,000 award for lifetime achievement
- How a rural Alabama school system outdid the country with gains in math
- Kim Jong Un heads back to North Korea after six-day Russian trip
- Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
- Horoscopes Today, September 18, 2023
Ranking
- Who's hosting 'Saturday Night Live' tonight? Musical guest, how to watch Dec. 14 episode
- Michigan State informs coach Mel Tucker it intends to fire him amid sexual harassment investigation
- More Than 150 Protesters Arrested in New York City While Calling on the Federal Reserve to End Fossil Fuel Financing
- See How The Voice's Niall Horan Calls Out Blake Shelton in New Season 24 Promo
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Newcastle fan stabbed 3 times in Milan ahead of Champions League opener
- Chris Evans Makes Marvelously Rare Comments About His Relationship With Alba Baptista
- Historic banyan tree in Maui shows signs of growth after wildfire
Recommendation
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
Attorneys for man charged with killing 2 teenage Indiana girls argue they died in ritual sacrifice
UAW president says more strike action unless 'serious progress' made
These habits can cut the risk of depression in half, a new study finds
B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
Why *NSYNC's Bigger Plans for Reunion and New Song Better Place Didn't Happen
Jada Pinkett Smith Celebrates Her Birthday With a Sherbet Surprise Hair Transformation
Atlantic nations commit to environmental, economic cooperation on sidelines of UN meeting