The three storms that inundated riverfront and coastal communities across Maine this winter caused more than $90 million in damage to public infrastructure across the state, state officials said Wednesday.
Gov. Janet Mills has proposed using $50 million from the state's "rainy day fund" to repair roads, water treatment plants and wharves damaged in the storms.
About half of the funds would be used to rebuild working waterfronts and make them more resilient against weather extremes, Hannah Pingree, director of the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, said.
"Is it enough? Is it enough to prepare for future floods? I would say absolutely not," she told state lawmakers Wednesday during a public hearing on the governor's storm recovery bill. "It is enough to start to make a difference this summer for working waterfront infrastructure and continue to advance important efforts across the state."
Most working waterfronts are privately-owned and not eligible for relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and several fishermen and waterfront operators said Wednesday that insurance did not cover their claims from recent storms.
Linda Vannah, the manager of the New Harbor Fishermen's Co-Op, said the group lost several docks during the January storms. Fishermen aren't sure how they'll pay for all the repairs.
"To replace our dock, it's going to be over $350,000," Vannah said. "But that's not including taking off buildings that now have to be taken off. That's just to get us to go straight down so that we can use it. They've never seen anything like this before. It's sad."
Fishermen, wharf owners and environmental advocacy groups urged state lawmakers to act quickly in approving the $50 million storm recovery relief, because they're trying rebuild waterfront infrastructure before the start of lobster season.
Testimony in favor of the bill was overwhelmingly positive, though some state lawmakers expressed some concern over the price tag and the transfer of rainy day funds to the Maine Infrastructure Adaptation Fund, which would the state's Department of Transportation would manage.
