The Wrack

A load of snow, powerful winds, storm surge, and frigid air kick off 2018.

It’s too early to tally the full damage from Hurricane Matthew, but I watched closely as four research reserves in our national system took the brunt of the storm.

2-3" of rain today. Flood warnings. Coastal flood warnings. A super moon high tide. "Multiple hazards in effect," declared the National Weather Service.

Really, quite a nice afternoon for a walk.

I've always loved our old bowl-and-chain gutters on the Coastal Ecology Center.

Mantoloking, New Jersey, October 30, 2012.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 8/30/2015. (Continued from Remembering Katrina, Part I.)

Ten years ago this week, Category 3 Hurricane Katrina left nearly 2,000 people dead, hundreds of communities uprooted, and more than $100 billion in damage along the Gulf Coast. Adding in Superstorm Sandy’s devastation in October 2012, just two events swallowed the equivalent of: five months of Medicare spending, or two years of the federal education budget, or four years’ worth of the Federal Highway Trust Fund, our national gasoline tax-funded infrastructure bank that is now running on empty. So much money, washed out to sea.

The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 8/23/2015.

Perhaps a butterfly flapped its wings in Hong Kong, or perhaps the gods who play dice with the sky rolled double sixes. Whatever the cause, the atmospheric disturbance that formed over the southeastern Bahamas on August 23, 2005, would go on to have massive effects.

Down in sunny Tuckerton, New Jersey, a contingent of coastal Maine residents and Wells Reserve associates heard firsthand the accounts of locals affected by Hurricane Sandy. The meeting was designed to be an exchange of experiences and suggestions in regard to storm preparedness and coastal resilience. The discussion was geared toward vulnerable areas in Maine, specifically Drakes Island and the Saco-Biddeford area, both of which sent representatives down to NJ. The trip included dinner at a restaurant damaged by Sandy, a few tours of destroyed coastal communities, and an informative panel discussion with residents and municipal officials involved in the recovery efforts.

About the Project

The Sandy Dialogues facilitated an exchange of expertise and experience between New Jersey and Maine that culminated in two Maine-based coastal hazard preparedness training workshops. Through this project, the Wells Reserve and its partners learned from New Jersey's Jacques Cousteau Reserve and its stakeholders about the use of decision-support systems, combined with the experience of responding to and recovering from a major storm event.

The Sandy Dialogues stemmed from the earlier Climate Games project in Wells and a sea-level-rise vulnerability assessment done for the New Jersey coast.

Project Period

March to November 2014

Goal

Develop a disaster response plan for the Wells Reserve and surrounding watersheds that complements and coordinates with local and county efforts and that will serve as a model for other natural resource organizations and agencies.

Why Do This Project?

The Julie N oil spill in Portland Harbor (1996), Mother's Day storm (2006), and Patriot's Day storm (2007) caused extensive environmental and infrastructure damage to the coastal areas of southwest Maine. More recently this region was narrowly spared the great devastation caused by Hurricanes Irene (2011) and Sandy (2012). These events have reinforced that:

• the occurrence of natural and man-made disasters is unpredictable
• a lack of preparation can result in a slower and less efficient response
• resilience of natural resources and man-made infrastructure to disasters can be "built in" in advance to some degree

The Wells Reserve weathered the Patriot's Day storm rather well. Manager Paul Dest reports these effects: