Despite a record-setting storm surge causing flooding and other chaos on Portland’s waterfront last weekend, most businesses, especially local restaurants, kept using one word to describe their overall experience: Lucky.
“It was a little precarious,” said Johnny DiMillo, co-owner of DiMillo’s On the Water. “We lucked out.”
A storm that hit the city on Saturday, Jan. 13 forced many businesses to close for the weekend and cross their fingers as a major ocean surge arrived right at high tide. Many portions of the piers branching toward the harbor off Commercial Street were reportedly entirely under water on Saturday.
The exact scope of the damage or cost estimates to repair everything are not yet known. Portland city officials said Thursday that they are still assessing the damage.
City spokesperson Jessica Grondin said once the assessments are finished, “we expect to apply for any applicable disaster relief,” but there was no word yet on how much the city would ask for.
On Thursday, however, foot and vehicle traffic on some of the lower piers appeared to have returned to business as usual.
On Custom House Wharf, a manager at Harbor Fish Market reported only “a little water” getting into a back room last weekend, no big deal for the longtime iconic seafood sellers.
Across from the market, The Porthole Restaurant & Pub also reported a little flooding, aside from a back room away from the kitchen and dining room.
“We had some damage, mostly just flooring,” said Manager James Casey.
Casey said the restaurant was closed on Saturday and Sunday due to the weather, but as of this week, “Open for business, baby, rockin’ and rollin’.”
Portland Pier also sits low in the water compared to other waterfront areas. Near Commercial Street, J’s Oyster was open. Lisa Reynolds, a manager there, was polishing the bar at midday Thursday. She said some flooding caused superficial floor damage last Saturday.
“We closed down that day, and we reopened today,” she said.
When asked if keeping the restaurant closed over the weekend was a blow Reynolds said, “Not terribly. Slow time of year.”
Reynolds has worked in the area for 30 years, and couldn’t remember flooding like last weekend’s since the infamous Blizzard of ’78.
Farther down the pier, a portion was still roped off to vehicle traffic due to flood damage, but there was just enough room to get to Luke’s Lobster at the pier’s end. Meaghan Dillon, a spokesperson for the restaurant, said they too were closed for the weekend, but reopened on Monday.
“We didn’t have any damage in the restaurant,” she said. “We were really lucky.”
DiMillo’s On the Water managed to avoid flooding altogether. Built on a former New York car ferry, the restaurant itself simply rose and fell with the tide, but DiMillo said anything the restaurant was connected to took damage.
“It’s good that we’re floating, because we just floated above the madness, but everything around us took a beating,” he said.
That included the wooden pilings that keep the restaurant steady, DiMillo said, along with an access ramp on the restaurant’s right side that was torn off. There was also damage to a water main, he said, and workers had to fix a fire suppression system before the restaurant could reopen on Monday.
As workers outside finished repairs on Thursday, DiMillo noted that his restaurant, too, was lucky.
“We didn’t lose anything in here,” he said.
Like Reynolds, the DiMillo family have a long history on Portland’s waterfront, and reflecting on the storm DiMillo said, “We’ve never seen anything like that.”