SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Deidre Bennett was able to point out exactly where she lives in one of the seven neighborhoods highlighted for risk of coastal flooding in South Portland.
"If anything happens there, it could really be affecting my house," she said.
She, like many others, went to the Waterfront Resilience Open House event with the hopes of learning more about how coastal flooding can affect her and her neighbors.
"I wanted to find out more about what's happening and what they think can get done," Bennett explained.
The event was hosted by sustainability and planning experts in the city, to highlight each neighborhood at risk and show the three biggest ways each location will be impacted if climate change continues at its current rate.
"This is sort of the problem statement," Julie Rosenbach, sustainability director for South Portland, said.
South Portland residents are no strangers to flooding after a brutal set of storms set record high tides this year.
"The January storms really drove home how bad the impacts could be," Rosenbach added.
That being said, she believes it's important to highlight the fact that these issues aren't going anywhere. They're actually getting worse. Each map at the open house contained scientific predictions for how already-record-high tides can be expected to increase over time.
"If we do nothing, this is what we can expect it to look like," Rosenbach said.
These predictions were intimidating to residents like Bennett, who expressed concerns about what her future will look like if the maps become reality.
"What happens to my water supply? I want to know what's going to happen to my insurance rates if I end up in a flood zone," Bennett said.
However, leaders of the event said these are exactly the fears and concerns they want to hear, so they can take what people want to see prioritized and use it to build a prevention plan.
"It definitely can be somewhat distressing to see my house, my business, my school, or the place I visit everyday might be underwater in the future, but one of the goals of the project is really to show us where we are most vulnerable and recognize that this is still in the future, that we still have time," Laura Berry, South Portland's community planner, said.
Berry added that the goal is to bring awareness to residents, so they can be motivated to push for action in the areas they are most concerned about.
"We'll give people the tools to actually be empowered to make a difference in shaping the city's future," she explained.
The city will be bringing resident feedback to a community workshop on June 20, where they will use the feedback to help them develop a policy direction moving forward.