As storms worsen, Maine needs to beef up infrastructure — but how?

FILE PHOTO / FRED FIELD The working waterfront on Custom House Wharf in Portland, seen during a storm in January 2024.

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The devastating effect of last year’s storms, and the need to prepare for the future, are the topics of two statewide initiatives.

The Maine Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission this week released an interim report presenting preliminary recommendations to improve the state’s response, recovery and rebuilding from extreme storms.

And coastal and working waterfront resilience is the topic of a series of forums being hosted in the coming months by Maine Sea Grant.

Infrastructure report

Gov. Janet Mills established the 24-member Maine Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission in May after several devastating storms. They included a December 2023 storm and January 2024 storms that caused an estimated $90 million in damage to public infrastructure and untold damage to homes, businesses and private infrastructure.

The commission visited communities on the front lines of storm-related damage and climate vulnerability. The co-chairs announced the interim report in Hallowell, where floodwaters from the Kennebec River inundated the downtown during the December 2023 storm.

The report identifies rebuilding and resilience priorities in the immediate and near term.

Extreme weather “will only become more frequent and more dangerous in the years to come, which is why we must act to strengthen our infrastructure to protect our people and our economy from these threats,” said Mills.

Mills said she would review the recommendations and work with the Legislature to consider how to better prepare for and respond to the storms on the horizon.

“We kicked off this commission six months ago in my home of Stonington, which suffered multiple devastating blows in the January storms that struck Maine’s working waterfronts and flooded inland communities,” said Linda Nelson, a Deer Isle resident who is the commission’s co-chair and director of Stonington’s economic and community development department.

“As we traveled the state, one message became resoundingly clear — climate change is harming the daily lives and future prospects of Maine people, and our communities need help,” Nelson said.

“Extreme storms, storm surge, rising sea levels, inland flooding and other significant impacts will only intensify in the coming years,” noted Hannah Pingree, a commission member and director of the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.

The commission’s goal is to lay a foundation for preparation for and recovery from future disasters, she added.

Pete Rogers, director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency, said increasing capacity for emergency planning, communication, expanding access to federal grants, promoting risk reduction and decreasing barriers to disaster recovery will be imperative for future responses.

“The city of Hallowell was hit hard by the December 2023 storm, like many riverfront communities in Maine,” said Gary Lamb, Hallowell’s city manager. “A river gauge alerted us to the flooding, allowing downtown businesses to salvage food, appliances and merchandise.”

Lamb credited volunteers, owners, employees and city personnel for helping with that effort.

He continued, “But over the long term, the city knows we must harden the Front Street riverbank to become more flood resilient, or it will all wash away in the coming decades.”

The commission held public listening sessions and site visits in Stonington, Old Orchard Beach, Saco, Rumford, Mexico, Jay, Rockland, Machias and Caribou, in addition to several virtual meetings.

The report’s recommendations for improvements include:

Bolstering Maine’s critical infrastructure that supports reliable and affordable electricity, heat, transportation, and drinking water
Helping communities to reduce risk and rebuild faster after disasters, including areas such as working waterfronts that support critical industries
Bridging disaster data and communications gaps among state and local officials
Streamlining permitting to rebuild infrastructure, especially for smaller communities
Building capacity at the local, state, and regional levels, including increasing the supply of construction workers and engineers to prepare for and rebuild after extreme weather events
Examining how to fund the scale of infrastructure resilience needs in Maine, which is beyond the ability of local communities or the state government to meet alone.

Following the release of the report, local business owner Rich Friscia provided a tour of his building at 140 Water St. in Hallowell. The historic building, which houses a coffee shop, gift shop and apartments, was lifted from its foundation in the December 2023 flood.

An award of nearly $60,000 from the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development’s Business Recovery and Resilience Fund is funding needed repairs, including replacement of floor joists, mold remediation, foundation strapping, basement flood vent installation, sump pumps and sloped drainage to allow water to recede more easily during future floods. The first-floor businesses reopened in April.

“The resiliency grant from the state will allow us to better secure the building through measures that will help to prevent this type of damage in the future,” said Friscia.

The commission said the next step is to deliver a long-term infrastructure resilience plan in May 2025.

The state’s commitment of $60 million in storm relief for working waterfronts, infrastructure projects and business recovery has so far enabled repair and recovery investments in 43 towns and cities, nearly 70 working waterfront facilities, and over 100 businesses and nonprofits.

To read the full report, click here.

Community forums

Maine Sea Grant, in partnership with Maine Coastal Program, Island Institute and UMaine MARINE, has scheduled 10 community meetings this fall and early winter to explore how to better respond to and prepare for future storms.

The goals are to:

Create space for community members across diverse sectors to take stock of their working waterfronts within the context of the community’s resilience since the storms.
Share resilience and working waterfront planning work across the region: recent, underway, or planned.
Learn about resources for public and private working waterfront resilience.
Identify systems and networks that would be useful to have in place locally to support working waterfronts in anticipation of future storms.

Meeting schedule (subject to change):

Southport/Boothbay/Boothbay Harbor/Bristol/South Bristol (Nov. 18, 5-7 p.m., Coastal Rivers Land Trust, 3 Round Top Lane, Damariscotta)
Phippsburg/Georgetown/Arrowsic (Nov. 20, 5-7 p.m. at the Grant Building, 31 Centre St. Bath)
Portland/South Portland/Casco Bay Islands (Dec. 3, 5-7 p.m., Gulf of Maine Research Institute, 350 Commercial St., Portland)
Kittery (Dec. 5, 5-7 p.m., Kittery Community Center, 120 Rogers Road, Kittery)
Roque Bluffs/Machias/Cutler/Machiasport/Eastport/Lubec (Dec. 10, 5-7 p.m., Washington Academy, 66 Cutler Road, East Machias)
Jonesport/Addison/Beals (Dec. 12, 5-7 p.m., Peabody Library, 162 Main St., Jonesport)
Milbridge/Steuben/Harrington (Dec. 16, location TBD)
MDI/Cranberry Isles/Trenton (Jan. 27, 2025, location TBD)
Blue Hill/Brooklin/Brooksville/Castine/Penobscot/Sedgwick/Surry (Jan. 29, 2025, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Blue Hill Public Library, 5 Parker Point Road, Blue Hill)
Sullivan/Winter Harbor/Sorrento/Hancock (TBD)

Click here for more information.