Posted on January 14, 2026
OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — This week marks two years since the historic storms of January 2024 battered homes, businesses and beaches all along the coast of Maine.
During those storms, 75 homes in one section of Old Orchard Beach flooded, and some residents saw 4 feet of water. Don Hoenig said the water was nearly hip-deep in front of his home on Sandpiper Road.
“We had about nine inches of water in our garage right there. We watched it come in,” Hoenig said. “As it was happening, we were thinking: ‘Oh, this is bad.'”
The town of Old Orchard Beach applied for federal disaster aid and received $1.8 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to restore protective dunes at two locations.
On Monday, dump trucks hauled in sand from a Sanford quarry that will be used to start repairing the dunes in the village of Ocean Park. Three hundred truckloads of sand will make their way to the end of Porter Road, which is right next to Goosefare Brook, over the next two weeks. Maine’s Total Coverage learned those truckloads amount to 1,400 cubic yards of sand, which is approximately 2,000 tons.
“We’re happy they’re doing that. I’m glad that Old Orchard applied for the grant,” Hoenig said. “I think from what I can see, they’re putting a lot of sand back and, hopefully, they’ll be able to restore some of the dune grass. I mean, that can be replanted.”
Next week, crews will haul in another 4,500 cubic yards of sand from a quarry in Dayton to replenish more than half a mile of beach north of the pier, closer to the Scarborough town line.
