'Tremendous' response from volunteers

By SETH HARKNESS, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

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	Staff photo by John Ewing Railroad Avenue in York Beach received some of the town's worst flooding. Wednesday's cleanup effort accomplished more than anticipated, says York Chamber of Commerce President Cathy Goodwin.
	Staff photo by John Ewing Steve McNally throws water-damaged furnishings into a dumpster on Railroad Avenue in Yprk Beach on Wednesday. McNally of York Beach and more than 50 other volunteers swarmed to the downtown district to help businesses recover.
	FLOOD WATCH Heavy rains wreaked havoc in southern Maine, damaging property and forcing people from their homes. Get coverage and share your photos and stories here. To top of story

YORK — It was a spring cleaning like no other in York Beach on Wednesday. Under the first extended sunshine in over a week, a swarm of at least 50 volunteers descended on the downtown district to help business owners recover from flood waters that poured into this area earlier in the week.

The several blocks of Railroad Avenue that received the worst of the flooding were a scene of frenzied cleaning throughout the day. Up and down the street, people scrubbed and shovelled and heaped wet debris into two Dumpsters. Meanwhile, additional volunteers with shovels slung over their shoulders marched down the sidewalks asking business owners how they could help.

By early afternoon, the improvements were unmistakable. Indoors, many business owners were still facing costly repairs to buildings and machinery, but outwardly there was little sign of the deluge that had threatened to swamp a new tourist season before it started. York Regional Chamber of Commerce president Cathy Goodwin, who helped organize the cleanup, said the effort accomplished more than anyone anticipated.

"Look at those Dumpsters - they're full to the top," she said. "I think the businesses didn't expect such a tremendous outpouring."

The volunteers were a mix of locals and out-of-staters. A crew of submariners based in Connecticut worked side-by-side with people from up the street and across the state. If there was one thing the volunteers shared, it was a belief that the scope of the cleanup effort should be wider than the extent of the flooding.

"It's not a matter of location or hometown, it's a matter of guys wanted to help," said Lt. Mike Fowler of the USS New Hampshire, who drove to Maine from Groton, Conn., with eight other sailors Wednesday morning to participate in the cleanup.

Store owners, even those who didn't need the volunteers' services, said they were impressed by the support. Frank Robbins, owner of the York Beach Fish Market, had his freezers float around the store in the flood and lost 150 pounds of fresh and frozen lobster. He preferred to work alone on Wednesday but still, he said, he appreciated the many strangers who knocked on his door and offered to lend a hand.

"It's interesting to see when people need help, other people just come out and say, 'I'm here,' " he said.

One woman who arrived in York Beach Wednesday morning to help out didn't know any downtown business owners but she knew what it was like to be caught in a flood. Juana Haskins and her husband, Gene, who run a cleaning business in Topsham, drove into town with a truck full of cleaning supplies on their day off and set to work sanitizing a local restaurant.

"I've been through two flash floods in New Mexico growing up," she said. "I have a real good idea what they're going through."

Other volunteers recently experienced other cleanup efforts that helped keep this one in perspective.

Johnny McDaniel of New Haven, Conn., was one of five Americorps volunteers helping Arline Shea clean out the Inn at Long Sands, where water gushing into the building had ruined the kitchen and jumbled furniture on the ground floor.

McDaniel said the destruction appeared minor compared with what the Americorps volunteers had witnessed during the recent month and a half they spent doing relief work outside New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"We looked at this and said, 'Oh yeah, we got this,' " he said.

For some, the York Beach cleanup also offered rewards beyond the satisfaction of helping others. A group of 25 middle school students from White Pine School in Cape Neddick helped sweep and shovel Wednesday. Some students finished the day clutching big bags of taffy one of the local candy stores had tossed into the Dumpster.

Another volunteer cleanup effort is also being organized in Kennebunk to help several families whose homes were inundated when the Mousam River overflowed its banks. The group has not started yet but information on taking part or requesting help is available at the town hall, according to Kennebunk Fire Chief Stephen Nichols.

Staff Writer Seth Harkness can be contacted at 282-8225 or at:

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