PORTLAND, Maine — Portland Department of Public Works crews were busy from Saturday to Tuesday on Peaks Island, working to clean up from Saturday's devastating wind and rain storm which brought flooding and and washed out roads to coastal communities throughout the state.
Work slowed Tuesday afternoon during a snow episode, with Portland Public Works Supervisor Marty Mulkern picking up recycling for Peaks Island residents.
"There is still some road work we need to do," Mulkern said.
Mulkern brought NEWS CENTER Maine to Seashore Avenue, the road that runs along the coastline on the east end of Peaks Island. The winds from Saturday's storm came from the east, so that's where the brunt of the waves crashed into homes and the sea wall, which turned into a pile of rocks seemingly within minutes.
"The water has the ability to move the rocks like this and your little golf cart... you're going to end up on the other side of the road," Mulkern said. He showed us a video where large rocks, sometimes three to four feet large, in the middle of the road and into bushes on people's property.
"Obviously people are devastated by the storm but people will recover," Mulkern said. "The islanders have been outstanding supporting us and we were back-to-back... we will be back after all this [snow] stops."
A historical tourist sight on the east end of Peaks is Whaleback Rock, which had the "head" of the whale split off by the storm. The rock, which is around a hundred feet long, stretches from the sea wall to the water, mimicking a whale.
"It was a crazy storm, it was a lot of damage," Nikolai Moxay said. He was walking along the washed-out Seashore Avenue with Simone Durane.
"I thought this might happen for some time but I guess in the storm it got cracked and pushed over... that's been here for a long time and it looks totally different now," Durane said.
The City of Portland said it is still working to estimate the true financial extent of damages from Saturday's storm, and said it hopes to have one by Jan. 22.