BATH, Maine — In the wake of the devastating storms that hit Maine's coast in January, individual communities, along with state and local groups have been working to address storm response and preparedness for working waterfronts.
Maine Sea Grant, one of 34 programs in the country funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is working with dozens of organizations including the Island Institute, Maine Coastal Program, and other groups to host meetings in communities along the coast.
The goal of the discussions is for organizers to hear directly from business owners, residents, and local officials about how the storms damaged infrastructure in and around the water, flood damage, and other issues that arose in the aftermath of those back-to-back-to-back storms.
It's also a chance for communities to discuss what storm responses and communication systems have worked well in the past and what can be improved upon in the future.
"Things that happened in Portland are different than things that happened in Eastport. So it seems super important to be able to have, you know, neighbors talking with one another, communities next to each other talking. So the convenings were set up kind of in a regional way," Maine Sea Grant Director Gayle Zydlewski said.
Zydlewski added that if a meeting isn't scheduled for your town or city, you are more than welcome to attend one closest to you.
The meetings began this week, with the next one scheduled for Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Grant Building in Bath. They will be held through January and you can find one happening in your area by clicking here.
"The idea is in the end to be able to share that information back with all of those communities and the hopes that there's better and better resilience to these more frequent storms," Zydlewski added.
After listening to community members during Monday night's meeting in Damariscotta, Zydlewski said some major takeaways were the desire for municipalities to take a preparedness approach rather than reacting to storm damage. Plus, she said, there were discussions related to boosting emergency communications systems during storms and having more federal and state support.
Several other resources are also shared at these meetings, including information about grant and recovery programs as well as information for coastal land owners.
These meetings are just one part of local, state, and federal efforts aimed at building up coastal resiliency for the future.