Harpswell has been awarded an $80,000 state grant to create a detailed interactive mapping tool to estimate and map future flooding from sea-level rise and storm surge.
The project, which builds on the town’s 2024 Floodplain Ordinance, will help local officials and residents identify the areas most vulnerable to coastal flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency predicts 1.5 feet of sea-level rise by 2050 and 3.9 feet by 2100.
According to the town’s grant application, the tool will incorporate sea-level rise projections tailored to Harpswell’s unique topography and will build upon recent updates to the town’s floodplain maps, which already account for wave run-up and storm surge. It will be used by town planners to guide decisions about marsh migration, well and septic system placement, and building setbacks.
Recent storms have underscored the urgency of such planning, Harpswell leaders said. Historically high tides combined with southeast winds in January 2023, December 2023 and January 2024 to cause severe damage to working waterfront businesses and shoreline homes across Harpswell’s 216 miles of coastline.
“The extent of the damage highlighted the need to be better prepared,” town officials wrote in their grant application. “Having a local tool to help determine the town’s most vulnerable areas will be invaluable for town planning and working waterfront property owner planning.”
The map is expected to support long-term planning and infrastructure upgrades by fishermen, working waterfront businesses and private road associations. It also will inform decisions about how to strengthen public roads, landings and shoreline infrastructure.
At the end of the study, the town plans to launch a public engagement program with an emphasis on Harpswell’s working waterfront and residents most vulnerable to climate-driven flooding.
The Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future awarded the grant through its Community Resilience Partnership, using federal funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge.
