First Major Storm Hits York

First Major Storm Hits York

On Friday, December 23, the season’s first major weather event hit the seacoast of Maine with full force. In addition to steady and powerful wind gusts, some up to 50 mph, heavy rains saturated the area. To make matters worse, the storm’s peak coincided with the morning high tide creating a formidable storm surge that resulted in power outages and rocks and debris getting tossed onto coastal roadways.

DPW had been monitoring the approaching weather pattern for days and had crews and equipment deployed early and in place to address the storm’s damage as it hit. Crew members on-scene at Short Sands unclogged catch basins by hand that were clogged by seaweed while trucks outfitted with snowplows cleared streets and access areas of standing water, rocks, logs and more. Heavy equipment was used to push back large boulders and return jersey barriers that had been pushed across streets by the strong tidal surge.

Additionally, DPW crews assisted in erecting “road closed” signs and redirecting residents away from flooded roadways or areas where heavy equipment was being used in clean-up operations. It is important to note that such disruptions by local traffic is not only dangerous for the drivers who want to see the storm’s rath firsthand, it impedes crews and equipment from getting to areas and carrying out the tasks related to public safety in emergency situations.

The one meteorological element that did work in DPW’s favor was that the temperatures that day were in the lower to mid-fifties, so snow and ice were not a factor.