US News
Published June 8, 2024 at 4:12 pm ET
There have been a few cases of people falling into quicksand at Popham Beach State Park in Maine so far this year, according to a parks official. KeynoteUSA
It’s swimming (or sinking) on a Maine beach dealing with a sudden surge of quicksand.
Jamie Acord was strolling along the water at Popham Beach State Park last weekend with her husband when she suddenly “fell like a rock” and fell up to her hips in the sand.
“I can’t get out,” he shouted. It was high tide and the ocean was getting closer.
Her quick husband, Patrick, was able to pull her out of the hole and they watched, surprised, as she filled with sand and disappeared.
“I couldn’t feel the bottom,” Acord said.
“I couldn’t find my balance.”
The popular destination, just east of Portland, is Maine’s busiest state park beach, attracting 225,000 visitors a year.
This year alone there have been several cases of encounters with quicksand, according to officials.
“Some people came in and went up to their knees, their ankles or their waists,” park manager Sean Vaillencourt told WGME KeynoteUSA 13.
Fortunately, the terrifying falls are not as dramatic as Hollywood portrays them.
“People hear the word quicksand and think of a jungle movie,” said Jim Britt, spokesman for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
“The reality with this oversaturated sand is that you’re not going to sink.”
The Maine park’s shifting sands are not a new problem, but winter storms diverted the channel of a nearby river, making it flow closer to the beach.
It now soaks the sand that bathers often walk on, to the point that one can walk through it.
Park rangers said they would soon put up signs to warn people about the sinkholes, WGME reported.
Vaillencourt insists that no one, including children, can sink beyond their legs.
He advises anyone who encounters quicksand to stay calm, get rid of any heavy objects they may be carrying, and lean forward or backward to disperse their weight and move more freely.
Then, they should try to sneak away or ask for help.
With post cables
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