enlarge Courtesy of Glenn Tucker via Bangor Daily News

A Coast Guard crew rescues a man about one-eighth of a mile from where he was swept into the water by a wave Sunday near Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park. Two others were pulled from the water, one of them a 7-year-old girl from New York City with no vital signs.

enlarge The Associated Press

People watch Sunday as water breaches a rock wall at Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia, in Canada. Hurricane Bill brought a steady downpour to parts of Nova Scotia, along with curious onlookers hoping to catch a glimpse of crashing waves. Craig MacLaughlan, CEO of Nova Scotia’s Emergency Management Office, said no major damage was reported in the province.

enlarge Courtesy of Barbara J. Hatch

Waves crash onto the rocks Sunday near Pemaquid Point Light in Bristol. Hurricane Bill passed about 300 miles to the southeast of Portland, the National Weather Service said.

enlarge Robert F. Bukaty/The Associated Press

A man photographs heavy surf generated by Hurricane Bill while kayakers and surfers wait for a wave to ride Sunday in Cape Elizabeth. Bill passed about 300 miles to the southeast of Portland but created enough of a storm surge to force some York County towns to close their beaches to swimming Sunday.

A 7-year-old New York girl died and 11 others were hospitalized Sunday after a huge ocean wave slammed into visitors at Acadia National Park.

The "rogue wave" hit about 20 people near Thunder Hole, according to the Coast Guard, one of several agencies involved in the incident. Three people were swept into the ocean and rescued by a lifeboat crew, including a girl who had no vital signs, the Coast Guard said.

The girl died and her parents were injured, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. He said the family was from New York City, but he had no further information about them Sunday evening.

The two others rescued after about 45 minutes in the water were the 7-year-old's father and a 12-year-old Maine girl from Belfast who was not related to them, said Acadia Chief Ranger Stuart West, who declined to release their names. Both were hospitalized, the man with a heart condition and the girl with a broken leg, said Chris Berry, rescue coordinator for the Coast Guard.

The nine others taken to the hospital mostly had broken bones from being slammed into the rocks, West said.

Thousands of people had gathered along the area near Thunder Hole as the combination of an astronomically high tide and a storm surge from Hurricane Bill created crashing waves along most of Maine's coast.

Thunder Hole is a cavernous inlet where incoming waves striking rocks can produce a sound like that of a distant clap of thunder. Visitors can walk down a set of stairs to a railed platform and look down into the inlet.

Before the incident, the park had closed off access to Thunder Hole itself to keep people away from the water, said Park Ranger Sonya Berger.

"Hurricane preparation plans were in effect," Berger said. "(The sightseers) were being managed for the conditions that were observed."

Mark Belserene, a spokesman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency, said there was some confusion after the wave hit as about 75 people in the immediate area scattered.

James Kaiser of Bar Harbor was taking photographs when he heard shouts that people had been swept into the 55-degree water.

"I could see two people's heads bobbing in the water," Kaiser said. He thought the waves would push them back to shore, but the current pulled them away instead.

The Coast Guard sent a Falcon jet and a Jayhawk helicopter from Cape Cod to the scene. The Maine Marine Patrol and the National Park Service also were involved with the search.

At Mount Desert Rock 40 miles offshore, a wave-monitoring gauge recorded seas 17 feet high, said Kirk Apffel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray.

Hurricane Bill passed about 300 miles to the southeast of Portland, Apffel said, but created enough of a storm surge to worry officials. A dangerous surf advisory posted Saturday was due to expire Sunday night.

Several towns in York County closed their beaches to swimming Sunday. Red flags were posted on all the beaches in Biddeford, Kennebunk, Old Orchard Beach, Ogunquit, Saco, Wells and York.

"It's pretty violent out here. We are getting hammered by some really big waves. Right now, there is no beach visible to me," said Bob Bohlmann, York County's emergency management director, who was standing Sunday afternoon near Wells Beach.

Bohlmann, who said he was seeing waves at least 10 feet high at Wells Beach, said he received reports of rocks washing ashore on Long Sands Road, near Long Sands Beach in York.

In Scarborough, police said Higgins Beach and town-owned Scarborough Beach remained open despite the storm surge.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com