Boothbay Harbor and other coastal towns were awash in seawater after a series of tsunami-like waves struck.
Late reports from the coast of Maine said that a series of three large waves ripped apart docks and snapped pilings in Boothbay Harbor, as well as swamping Southport and Bristol within a matter of minutes, on the afternoon of Oct. 28.
The waves were up to 12 feet in height and caused as much as $20,000 in damage. “It was bizarre,” lifelong Boothbay resident and dockworker Marcy Ingall told the The Boston Globe. She said many were joking, “Is this the end?”
The rogue waves baffled experts. Some speculated they could have been caused by a strong storm squall or a kind of underwater landslide along a steep canyon in the ocean, which would have caused a sort of mini tsunami.
One reader along the coast told the newspaper that he had felt a small tremor prior to the waves’ arrival.