Husband's quick thinking saved wife when she fell into 'sinkhole' on beach: 'Couldn't feel the bottom'

In a difficult situation, a calm and quick-thinking person can make a lot of difference. That's what Jamie Pitcher Acord's husband did when she found herself caught in quicksand. The incident took place when Acord and her husband were walking along Popam Beach State Park in Phippsburg, Maine. She shared her horrible experience in a post on Facebook, detailing how it all panned out. The woman also warned people about the situation at the beach.

"I was there Saturday with my husband enjoying a leisurely stroll on the beach along the high tide mark (almost to the dunes) when I fell into a 'sinkhole,'" she wrote. "I fell in up to my hips, that's 2.5 feet." She added that state park rangers told her there have been more reports of the sand turning into quicksand. According to her husband, Patrick Acord, it felt like his wife was there one minute and the next, she had vanished.

Patrick had to pull her up as she could not do it on her own. Acord narrated, "I could not feel the bottom and I could not get a footing. My feet are scratched up, as are my knees, probably from rocks or sticks in the hole." She believes that if she had been a kid, she would have disappeared into the hole. She recalled, "No sooner did Patrick pull me out did the hole disappear." State park rangers told them that the flooding and erosion over the last year have led the river near Morse Mountain to "curve around the front of the beach into the ocean and it's causing the quicksand-like sand on the beach, causing people to struggle more or get stuck when walking," she shared.

People on the platform were shocked after reading about her experience. Carina Adams commented, "Oh my God! That's insane! I feel like I spent my childhood preparing for quicksand, but I don't actually ever want to experience that feeling." Jennifer Bloom wrote, "That's crazy! It's so sad how much the shape of Popham has changed this past year." Christina Blais expressed, "I hope they consider posting warning signs and maybe roping off the areas where it's the biggest risk. It sounds very dangerous." Amy Desmarais shared, "Wow, scary to think it could have been a child! I'm glad you're alright!" Carol Sleeper Blake said, "Oh my goodness! Glad you're ok! Thanks for letting us know!"

In an interview with PEOPLE, Acord shared more about what happened. She said, "It was kind of one of those moments where I didn't know what to do. This is a new thing that's never happened before. And I go to that beach all the time." After her husband pulled her out, they turned around to look at the spot she'd fallen through because they thought she had fallen into an actual hole. "There was nothing there," she revealed. "It looked just like the beach. It had filled itself right back in."

Jim Britt, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, told News Center Maine that climate change played a role in what happened. He explained that a number of winter storms diverted river water to a sand area where visitors are mostly likely to walk on. He said, "The sand is saturated with water. It's even more unstable and very easy to find yourself sinking into it." Britt added that it is a "100% survivable scenario" and the rule is to "stay calm, lean back and find your way back."