Over 150 communities throughout the state will receive a total of $8 million in resilience grants aimed at preparing Maine for storms, rising seas, wildfires, and extreme weather.
Governor Janet Mills announced $8 million in grants while standing on Colony Beach in Kennebunkport, where last year's twin storms caused $850,000 in damages that the town is still recovering from.
"They chewed up roads as if they didn't exist," said Mills of last year's storms. "They broke down sea walls all up and down the coast. They took down wharfs, mighty wharfs that have been there more than 100 years. They surrounded houses with sea water," she said.
The community resilience grants, now in their fourth year, have provided over $18 million in funding for projects throughout the state, including stormwater drainage, wildfire management planning, stabilizing shorelines, and upgrading public buildings. This year's $8 million in grant funding comes from a combination of state funds and a federal NOAA grant.
DeCarlo Brown, Director of Planning and Economic Development for the town of South Berwick, one of the grantees, says smaller towns can follow towns like Saco and Biddeford's lead — but preparing now, before the next big storm hits, is key.
"You can invest the money to protect yourself now, or you pay two times, three times four times as much trying to recover for something that you haven't prepared for," he said.
Mills stressed the importance of continuing to prepare for climate change, including the next big storms, whenever they may be.
"We must keep making progress to protect our people and our environment, regardless of whether we have support from Washington, D.C. or not," she said. "Because disasters and droughts, floods and storms, know no political party, they don't care if your town is or your state is rural or urban, northern, southern, eastern, western, liberal or conservative, red or blue or purple. The threat is real. The danger is here. The danger is now."