A cabin floats in New Harbor on Jan. 11 after breaking away from pilings during a storm on Jan. 10. Derek Davis/staff photographer, file

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, which have become more frequent and intense since climate change.

On Wednesday, the Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission called for improved emergency communications, an online flood risk disclosure, streamlined rebuilding permits, storm preparedness grants for homeowners and voluntary buyouts for frequently flooded properties.

Last winter, when storms swept through areas that had never flooded, city officials had no choice but to use social media to contact residents in danger. Some cities have since created a mobile phone notification network, but these have limited use, reaching only subscribers.

“Areas that had never seen 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 commission wants to give local officials and emergency managers access to the federal integrated public warning and alert system. Unlike subscription-based systems, the federal system sends wireless emergency alerts to all cell phones in a designated area without requiring prior registration.

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

It wants the state to create an online disaster data service that would centralize existing information about hazards, risks and vulnerabilities to help the public understand storm-related flooding risks and provide guidance on how to mitigate risks to public health and property damage.

The commission wants the state to develop an online tool that would make it easier for a buyer to find out if their home is at risk of flooding — required by Maine’s new disclosure law — and help homeowners assess the need for flood insurance and flood improvements. home to 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 replacing roofs, storm windows or shutters, removing tree limbs, and building retaining walls for to direct the water around the foundations of the house.

The program, modeled after Alabama’s successful Home Strengthening program, could also make participants eligible for a homeowner’s insurance discount. Eligibility for the program would be directed to insurable, owner-occupied properties that meet national home strength standards.

After the emergency itself has passed, people begin the rebuilding process. While Maine already has a few accelerated authorization procedures effective, the commission urged the state to do more to raise public awareness of eligibility for these rapid rebuild options.

It also asked state permitting agencies to augment staff through temporary contracts to handle the surge in permit applications that occur after any major storm. When a storm hits, state agencies should prioritize reviewing disaster permit applications, the commission said.

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

REQUEST FOR RESOLUTION OF PERMISSIONS

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

Commission members cautioned that the report must plan for resettlement and withdrawal, not just resistance.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to code or engineer our way out of the problems in some of these danger zones,” said Pete Slovinsky, a marine geologist with the Maine Geological Survey. “We need more information regarding a relocation and/or withdrawal recommendation.”

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

“While wholesale withdrawal from the coast or river corridor may not be politically or economically viable, the idea of ​​avoiding specific areas that experience chronic flooding from rainfall or tidal events is gaining acceptance in the whole country”, the draft report states.

The report also suggests that the state help fund the 25 percent share of municipal costs for the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which buys properties at risk of repeat flooding from homeowners who want to sell. Land is converted into wetlands, gardens or wildlife refuges to reduce future flooding.

As of 2019, Maine had 118 FEMA-funded property acquisitions, 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 lost to homes and private business.

This first report will be sent to Mills on November 15th. The commission will present a final report in May 2025.

The Gulf of Maine has risen about 7.5 inches in the past century, with about half of that occurring since the 1990s. The Maine Climate Council predicts seas will rise another 1.1 to 3.2 feet by 2050, and by 3 to 9.3 feet by 2100, depending on how much we reduce global emission rates.

SURVAL DOESN’T COUNT

And that doesn’t include storm surge, which is what many people who rely on 20 miles of Maine’s waterfront — out of 3,200 miles of coastline — say did the most damage during January’s storms, wiping out piers that underlie so many of them. docks, wharves and wharves.

How does climate change affect sea level? In a warming world, glaciers and ice sheets are melting, adding water to the ocean. The ocean also expands in volume as the water warms. Ocean circulation patterns, terrestrial water storage, and the gravitational effects of glaciers also play a small role.

Sea levels in the Gulf of Maine are projected to rise faster than the global average because they are susceptible 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 the ones we had last winter will do to the future coast of Maine. The the state drew how much will be lost to sea level rise 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 15-fold increase in the frequency of flash floods, which are daytime or high-tide floods that occur in the absence of a storm. It would make a “100-year storm” flood level likely to occur once every 10 years.

The state has yet to produce maps showing the impact of future storms of various strengths on different parts of the Maine coast, much less the potential damage from wave impacts. But surges like those experienced last winter can add 3 to 4 feet of additional water on top of rising seas.

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