Maine's Coastal Communities Clobbered by Storm

From the southern Maine beaches, to the Midcoast, to Downeast – the snow was falling at a rate as fast as three inches per hour

Maine’s coastal communities were clobbered by a powerful nor’easter Thursday that brought strong, sustained winds and left a foot of snow in some spots.

From the southern Maine beaches, to the Midcoast, to Downeast – the snow was falling at a rate as fast as three inches per hour.

Maine Department of Transportation's Ted Talbot said the conditions made driving dangerous, as wind gusts kept the snow blowing and limited visibility. The good news, he said, was that it was a purely snow event.

The last few storms have had a mix of ice and freezing rain. This time around, it was easier to plow.

“It makes it much easier on our resources certainly,” said Talbot. “It’s a lot less expensive to the state as a whole when you don’t have to use the material for icing.”

Before blizzard-like conditions set in, some surfers hit Higgins Beach in Scarborough to catch some waves.

“When there’s a storm off shore, that’s usually when the waves start coming in,” said surfer Gillian Davis. “It’s a particularly good time to be out here.”

Maine’s mountain region, where several ski resorts are located, did not receive nearly as much snowfall as the coast Thursday.

“We get the worst of the storms,” said Dan Chadbourne, the harbormaster at Camp Ellis in Saco, Maine. The area is not protected from the open ocean, and roads closest to the ocean were closed Thursday to protect residents from potential splash over and erosion.

“[The road] just keeps getting wiped out, time after time,” resident Ken Koehler said. “We get beaten up storm after storm.”

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