A new law directs tens of millions of dollars to help Maine communities prepare for future storms made more extreme by climate change.
Governor Janet Mills signed the bipartisan bill into law Tuesday after it received overwhelming support from lawmakers.
The measure "will allow Maine communities, homeowners, businesses, emergency response leaders and others to prepare for the extreme weather events of the future and make Maine a safer place to live in the process," the Governor said.
Under the law, homeowners will have access to a $15 million grant fund for improvements to protect against severe weather damage and to lower insurance costs.
The law also directs $10 million for the state's required match to federal disaster relief funds.
It provides funding for a revolving loan fund for infrastructure rebuilding and money to update communications and early warning systems at the Maine Emergency Management Agency.
And it will spend $9 million to begin a Flood Ready Maine program to improve and update flood models, maps and management. The program will be housed in a newly-created State Resilience Office, itself a branch of the recently enacted Maine Office of Community Affairs.
Some of the law's measures were recommended in an interim report by the Maine Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission.
The commission was established in the aftermath of back-to-back storms more than a year ago that devastated parts of the coast and inland river valleys.
Mills said the new law continues work that started with a $60 million rebuilding package lawmakers passed after the storms. Experts predict a warming climate will make storms stronger and more destructive, create heavier precipitation and accelerate sea level rise.
Last year's reconstruction bill "was only a down payment on the critical work that Maine must do to prepare for the storms ahead, storms that will be more intense and more frequent in years to come," Mills said.
