by PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – After back-to-back storms hit the Northeast in January, rental properties Levy Haim was hammered ownership in Hampton coast, New Hampshire, by almost two feet of water, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and caused tenants to evacuate to safer ground.
“Put them in hotels and everything. So it was brutal, for everyone. And at the apartment I have one floor; I have nothing,” Levy said. “It’s crazy. It’s not fun.”
Many scientists who study the intersection of climate change, flooding, winter storms and sea level rise agree the type of damage that occurred was more of a sign of things to come than the levee anomaly. They say last month’s storms that destroyed swales in Maine, eroded dunes in New Hampshire and submerged parts of New Jersey still dealing with hurricane damage from years ago are becoming more the norm than the exception, and the now time to prepare for them.
Climate change is predicted to bring more hurricanes to the Northeast and warmer waters, some scientists say. Worldwide, sea levels have risen faster since 1900, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk, the United Nations said. Beaches around the world are at risk of erosion due to changing conditions, according to European Union researchers.
Another storm brought flooding to Massachusetts and New Hampshire on Tuesday. In the Northeast, the problem of climate change is especially acute because of projected sea level rise here, said Hannah Baranes, a coastal scientist with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Climate Center in Portland, Maine. The state has already seen 7.5 inches (19 centimeters) of rise since 1910 and is expected to have to manage 4 feet (1.2 meters) of sea level rise by 2100, she said.
These rising seas mean communities in coastal New England will have to make tough choices about when to take responsibility for rebuilding, Baranes said. The January storms, which flooded streets and left historic buildings, are a good example of the “type of major event we need to be prepared for,” she said.
“This is a real moment to consider the extent of flooding in a few feet of sea level rise,” Baranes said. “And consider when to rebuild, and in some cases whether to rebuild at all.”
The storms caused damage that coastal communities in several states are still struggling to clean up. President Joe Biden also recently issued a federal disaster declaration for several communities damaged by wind and rain storms in December.
The January attack was devastating for Maine’s waterfront working communities, where dozens of docks, buildings and wharves were damaged or destroyed, said Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the state Department of Marine Resources. He said the combination of back-to-back storms in the second week of January and high tides created “damage like we’ve never seen before” in a state where waterfront industries such as commercial fishing are vital economic lifeblood.
Business owners on the waterfront have vowed to rebuild. But Democratic Gov. Janet Mills told the Maine Climate Council that the storms also provided a great lesson that “resiliency is not just about repairing and rebuilding physical infrastructure.”
The governor tasked the council with developing a plan to address the impacts of climate change in the state. That could include strategies like rebuilding higher than before, planting more trees on waterfronts and building newer, more durable culverts, bridges and roads, speakers at a council meeting said. climate in January.
“It’s easy to think that maybe this one storm was just a fluke. Or maybe our three storms are just three,” Mills said. “But what do we do about the future? We’re not just talking about riprap and wharf, we’re talking about being ready in many ways.”
Even inland communities are not immune to flooding from weather events such as the January storms. The storms brought back bad memories of Vermont’s summer storms that brought devastating flooding while causing new damage in some areas, said Julie Moore, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.
Vermont, which also suffered major damage in Hurricane Irene in 2011, is working to establish statewide floodplain standards, Moore told the Maine Climate Council.
Winter flooding caused a lot of “post-traumatic stress, really, in Vermont,” but there’s also a sense of hope in preparing for the future, Moore said. “We have a unique opportunity that Irene has not shown herself.”
Many coastal areas will face difficult choices in preparing for a future of stronger storms, worse flooding and increased erosion. In New Jersey, the resort town of North Wildwood has made emergency repairs to its protective dunes without approval from the state government – and is locked in a legal battle.
In Rhode Island, the RI Coastal Resource Management Council is encouraging many of the state’s coastal homeowners and businesses to lift structures and move landward whenever possible, said Laura Dwyer, the council’s public education and outreach coordinator.
“People have always been drawn to the water and the coast, and will continue to be,” said Dwyer. “We need to be smart about development, recognizing that sea levels are rising at an unprecedented rate and storms are becoming more frequent and intense. “
But after January’s storms, a heavily damaged house that leaned into the ocean in Narragansett, Rhode Island signaled to some that the ocean is moving closer to human habitation due to the world’s changing climate.
For Conrad Ferla, a resident of nearby South Kingstown, the house was the catalyst for a future of heavy storms and dangerous flooding in the region that will require more than plywood, riprap and sandbags to be ready.
“I think a lot of shoreline property should be moving to higher ground,” said Ferla, who started a group called Saving RI Coastal Access/Rights of Way and advocates a cautious approach to coastal construction. “I think retreat is probably the best option.”
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Associated Press photojournalist Charles Krupa and video journalist Rodrique Ngowi contributed to this report in Hampton, New Hampshire.
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Follow Patrick Whittle on X, formerly Twitter: @pxwhittle
