WELLS, Maine — On Wednesday morning, even as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, the coastal town of Wells was still feeling the impact of a significant storm.
Flood waters covered the pavement, as the high tide crept in; rocks, sand, and seaweed were strewn across properties; furniture lay in mismatched yards, having been blown over a house or two.
Chief Mark Dupuis with the Wells Fire Department, also the emergency management director for the town, said the rain began around 6 or 7 p.m. Tuesday. Then, the wind speed began to pick up around 2 or 3 a.m. Wednesday morning. He said the real problems began, though, a few hours before high tide moved in, as the ocean started to spill over the roads.
"There’s a lot of rocks, a lot of boulders, tree stumps—everything is out in the middle of some of these roads," Dupuis showed NEWS CENTER Maine Wednesday morning.
Dupuis said public works crews would be out all day, trying to clean up downed wires, propane tanks that had floated away, and flooded basements. He said the damage from this storm is some of the worst he has seen in the area.
"There’s been one other storm in my four years here that I saw that was significant just like this," Dupuis said. "I’m being told by some of the residents here that this seems to be the worst."
Dupuis said while other members of his team said they have seen worse in the past, this storm will still leave its mark.
"It takes a toll. It takes a financial toll for sure. The community has to step up," Dupuis said. "It gets expensive, trees down. Our crews have to go out and take care of trees. The fire crews do that. [Public works] crews are taking care of those things. It really wreaks havoc on the community."
Jane Cedrone has lived in Wells since 1989. She said last night she was watching a device she owns to measure wind speeds, and it hit 70 mph. Remnants of foam and sand on her oceanside windows and water in her garage are reminders of the chaos.
"The second floor—you could feel it moving," Cedrone said. "That was scary. It was very scary."
Cedrone said in her time being here, she had never seen a tide like this storm's.
"Mother Nature, I guess. She’s angry," Cedrone said.
Kenneth and Nancy Morrell have been visiting Wells for years, but this is their first winter living in a home on the marsh side of the Atlantic Avenue peninsula. They actually rebuilt the property that was already here, with the potential for flooding in mind.
"[We] had to put it up on 5-foot [posts]," Nancy said. "We were basically almost on the ground before in the house that we had before. We tore that house down, and then we built the new house."
Kenneth said they knew Maine's winters could be brutal, which is why they had planned for hunkering down this week, if necessary.
"Very windy, very rainy," Kenneth said of this most recent storm.
"Last night, I thought my whole roof was going to blow off," Nancy said. "It was unbelievable. All I could hear was noises all night long."
Dupuis said his crews are currently assessing damage in the area to see whether the town is eligible to receive reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.