GOULDSBORO, Maine — Many communities across Maine are still assessing damage caused by Wednesday's powerful rain and wind storm. Small fishing communities in Down East Maine were particularly hit hard.
"It was the worst I’ve ever seen," Darryl Stanley, manager of the Corea Lobster Co-Op said.
Corea was just one of the fishing communities to see severe damage from Wednesday's storm. More than a dozen fishermen spent Thursday hauling traps from the water, after their wharfs had been destroyed.
"I mean the whole building itself was coming up three or four feet at a time, and our floats were hitting so bad they were flopping back and forth," Stanley said.
Stanley said he's still assessing damage, but expects it to cost "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to repair his wharf.
"It’s a tremendous blow to the economy. Gouldsboro is a fishing community. We’re going to recover, but it’s going to be difficult," Dana Rice Sr., a retired fisherman said.
Rice has worked out of Bunker's Harbor almost his entire life, and believes it's the worst storm surge to hit the area. At Bunker's Harbor, a small building at the end of a wharf used as an office space was swept away by the ocean, and landed ashore a quarter mile away.
Roger Chipman's wharf at Bunker's Harbor sustained heavy damage and he said no one will be able to fish from it for at least a month.
"This was all together different than what we’ve ever had," Chipman said.
Storm damage continued throughout Down East Maine: Prospect Harbor had multiple boats wash ashore.
John Harris said after his boat washed ashore, other fishermen helped him remove the mast. He said his boat will be out for repairs for over a month.
"It was absolutely insane," Harris said. "It’s heartbreaking. It’s our livelihood, it’s how we make our money."
However in all of these harbors, the fishermen shared a sense of resiliency.
“They’re fishermen. They’re strong, they will come together, they will help each other, and we’ll be back up and running, we’ll make it," Stanley said.
On Thursday, Gov. Janet Mills declared a civil state of emergency in all of Maine's coastal counties, to assist in response and recovery efforts.