Maine’s Resilience Commission is calling for grants, improved warnings and education

A state commission created in the wake of last winter’s severe storms is finalizing its first report on how Maine can prepare for and recover from extreme weather events made more frequent and intense by climate change.

On Wednesday, the Commission on Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience called for improved emergency communications, an online disclosure of flood risks, streamlined permitting for reconstruction, storm preparedness grants for homeowners and voluntary buyouts of frequently flooded properties.

Last winter, as storm surges inundated areas that had never flooded before, city officials had no choice but to use social media to contact at-risk residents. Some cities have since established cell phone notification networks, but these have had limited use and only reach those who subscribe.

“Areas that had never experienced flooding were inundated within minutes,” Old Orchard Beach Fire Chief John Gilboy, who used a boat and front-end loader to rescue stranded residents in January, told the commission. “A common response from families during rescue efforts was, ‘I should have left.’ ”

The committee wants to give local officials and emergency managers access to the federal Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. Unlike subscription-based systems, the federal system sends wireless emergency alerts to all cell phones within a designated area, without requiring prior registration.

The committee wants the public to know much more about flood risk before the next storm hits.

It wants the state to create an online disaster data service that centralizes existing information on hazards, risks and vulnerabilities to help the public understand the risks of flood-related storms and provide guidance on how to reduce risks to public health and property damage .

The committee wants the state to develop an online tool that will make it easy for buyers to find out if their home is at risk of flooding — something required under Maine’s new disclosure law — and to help homeowners assess their needs for flood insurance and home improvements. minimize flood damage.

The commission wants Maine to consider providing grants to Maine residents to fortify their homes against future weather-related losses, such as roof replacement, storm windows or shutters, removing tree limbs and building retaining walls to direct water around the home’s foundations.

The program, modeled after the successful “Strengthen Alabama Home” program, could also make participants eligible for a discount on their homeowner’s insurance. Eligibility for the program would target insurable, owner-occupied properties that meet national housing resiliency standards.

After the emergency itself is over, people start the rebuilding process. While Maine already has a few accelerated licensing procedures The committee urged the state to do more to increase public awareness of the suitability for these rapid rebuilding options.

It also called on licensing authorities to increase staffing through temporary contracts to manage the surge in permit applications after a major storm. When a storm hits, government agencies should prioritize reviewing disaster-related permit applications, the commission said.

The committee also called for increased cooperation and expedited permit review of its federal partners, especially the Army Corps of Engineers, which issues permits for activities that impact the nation’s waters and wetlands, such as dredging or construction projects below the high tide line.

REQUEST TO STREAMLINE THE PERMITS

At his meeting Wednesday, Robert Wood, director of the Bureau of Land Resources in the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, said the report should urge federal partners “to consider what they can do for Maine in terms of streamlining the permits for resilience and storm recovery. ”

Commission members warned that the report should plan for relocation and withdrawal, not just resilience.

“I don’t think we can code or engineer the problems in some of these dangerous areas,” said Pete Slovinsky, a marine geologist with the Maine Geological Survey. “We need more information in terms of a recommendation around relocation and/or withdrawal.”

As presented to the committee on Wednesday, the draft report refers to moving critical structures out of the most vulnerable areas by lifting or withdrawing them from a flood-prone area, such as a 100-year floodplain or a Category 1 storm surge area.

“While large-scale withdrawal from the coast or river corridor may not be politically or economically feasible, the idea of ​​avoiding specific areas that experience chronic flooding from rainfall or tidal events is gaining acceptance across the country,” the draft report said.

The report also suggests that the state fund the 25% municipal cost share for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which buys properties at risk of repeat flooding from homeowners looking to sell. The land is converted into wetlands, gardens or nature reserves to reduce future flooding.

As of 2019, Maine had 118 FEMA-financed property buyouts, 94 of which were in Canton.

The 24-person commission was created by Gov. Janet Mills in May after storms in December 2023 and January 2024 killed four people and caused $90 million in damage to public infrastructure, with millions more in losses to private homes and businesses.

This first report is expected to Mills on November 15. The committee will submit a final report in May 2025.

The Gulf of Maine has risen about 7 inches over the past century, about half of that since the 1990s. The Maine Climate Council predicts that seas will rise another 1.1 to 3.2 feet by 2050 and 3 to 3.3 feet by 2100, depending on how much we cut global emissions.

STORM CURRENT IS NOT MENTIONED

And that doesn’t even include storm surges, which many people who rely on Maine’s 20 miles of waterfront — out of 2,000 miles of coastline — say caused the most damage during the January storms, sweeping away the pilings that underlie so much of Maine’s waterfronts. the docks, wharves and piers.

How does climate change affect sea levels? In a warming world, glaciers and ice caps are melting, releasing water into the ocean. The ocean also expands in volume as the water warms. Ocean circulation patterns, water storage on land and the gravitational effects of glaciers also play a small role.

Sea levels in the Gulf of Maine are expected to rise faster than the global average because it is sensitive to changes in the Gulf Stream and seasonal wind patterns, according to the Island Institute, a Rockland-based nonprofit that serves Maine’s coastal communities.

Mainers don’t have to imagine what storms like last winter’s will do to Maine’s future coastline. The mapped out how much of it will be lost to rising sea levels under different scenarios, in different years, and what future storms might do to what remains.

A 1 foot rise in sea level by 2050 will lead to a fifteenfold increase in the frequency of nuisance flooding, that is, daytime or high tide flooding that occurs without a storm. It would result in a “100-year storm” flood level having a chance of occurring once every ten years.

The state has yet to produce maps showing the impact of future storms of varying strengths on different parts of Maine’s coast, let alone the potential damage from wave impacts. But waves like last winter’s could add an additional 10 to 4 feet of water on top of rising sea levels.

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