Scenes from Cape Porpoise following the Jan. 10 and 13 storms that battered the coast of Maine. Cynthia Fitzmorris photo
BIDDEFORD — Like other municipalities along the coast, Biddeford is in the process of recording the full damage caused by two devastating storms from earlier this month, one on Jan. 10 and the other on Jan. 13. The storms brought flooding, high winds, and rain — devastating roads, beaches, and private property alike in multiple counties.
During a Jan. 20 public information session held for residents impacted by the storms, Code Enforcement Director Roby Fecteau said that the city does not yet have a firm number, but indicated that the cost of public infrastructure damage from the two storms is at a minimum over $2 million.
“Biddeford’s damage for just Jan. 10 was over a million bucks,” said Fecteau. He described the damage from the following storm as “worse.”
The city held an informational meeting for each impacted coastal community in Biddeford. The session for Biddeford Pool was attended by roughly 20 people, many of whom described destruction to their properties, such as seawall damage and dune erosion. Almost every community member who spoke praised the city and Fecteau himself for their response to the storms.
Hoping to get federal funds to help pay for repairs, he Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) has requested that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conduct a preliminary damage assessment of the two January storms. That assessment is the first step towards securing a “major disaster declaration” from the federal government, which would unlock federal disaster assistance for the state. Already this month, Governor Janet Mills has formally requested that President Biden grant a major disaster declaration for another powerful storm that occurred in mid-December.
Biddeford is capturing public infrastructure damage to report to the state as part of FEMA’s reporting process. If the state proves a certain threshold of damage and secures the major disaster declaration, “that means 75% reimbursement from the feds on public infrastructure,” said Fecteau on Saturday.
“Part of the issue we’re having is that FEMA wants this as two separate events, but from our perspective it’s not,” said Fecteau of the two storms. “There was no time to finish the recovery phase (before) the next event. So we’re pushing for a singular event from January 9th all the way through the 15th.”
Ward 1 City Councilor William Emhiser, who was at Saturday’s information session, estimated that private damage in his ward alone is in the millions. There are seven properties that have been deemed “unsafe” by the city’s code enforcement in his ward, said Emhiser, who represents Biddeford Pool, Hills Beach and Fortunes Rocks.
“One of those properties, which was assessed at $1.6 million dollars, will have to be completely destroyed,” he added.
Individual property owners and businesses had until Jan. 22 to submit a damage survey regarding the Jan. 13 storm to the state. The submission was not an actual application for assistance, but a way for the state to measure the full impact of the storm and “unlock the maximum amount of potential Federal support available,” according to the online webpage.
For individual FEMA assistance to be made available, York County has to have at least 100 individuals who qualify, said Fecteau. “If they come up with that number, then certain individuals will qualify for individual assistance, (which) has a strict criteria that has to be met in order to (be accessed).”
The state must also prove a large number of homes and businesses in all of Maine have been impacted to secure individual assistance, a threshold it does not often meet, according to MEMA.
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