J’s Oyster, a restaurant in a flood-plagued area of the Old Port, is surrounded by seawater at high tide in January.  Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer, file

The Mills administration on Friday awarded $25.2 million in storm recovery grants to 39 towns and cities in Maine, including funding for a new storm drain in Portland’s Old Port that’s designed to reduce waterfront flooding and sewage discharges into the harbor.

The grants come from a $60 million fund created this year to improve the state’s infrastructure to make it more resilient to storms like the ones that devastated the coast and interior communities last winter.

Portland’s central waterfront is vulnerable to flooding, especially during high-tide storm surges, and was inundated during storms in January and March. During January’s flooding, several businesses, including J’s Oyster Bar, were underwater.

High tide during the Jan. 13 storm peaked at 14.57 feet at Ocean Gateway in Portland, breaking the previous record of 14.17 feet set on Feb. 7, 1978, according to the National Weather Service office in Gray.

The Old Port flooded again during a March storm, although not as severely as in January.

The new $25 million round of grants includes $3.6 million for the city of Portland, which will chip in $635,000 to complete the stormwater improvements. The city will install a new, 42-inch, separated storm drain under Commercial Street, between Center and Maple streets, that will discharge stormwater into Portland Harbor near the fish pier.

“This should be a big win for the city,” said Bill Boornazian, water resources manager for Portland Public Works. “We will be putting in a new, larger storm drain that doesn’t exist right now.”

Stormwater from the Old Port now drains into a combined system that handles both sanitary sewage and stormwater. In dry conditions, combined sewers carry sanitary wastewater and stormwater to the city’s sewage treatment plant. But when it rains, the treatment plant and the drainage system get overwhelmed and the combined wastewater overflows, causing flooding and contaminating Casco Bay.

The 42″ drain is more than twice as large as the current 18″ drain on Commercial Street, and because it will be separate from the wastewater system, it will drain more efficiently into the harbor and will no longer carry untreated sewage, Boornazian said. The new system should be able to handle a 25-year storm event, he said.

Boornazian expects construction on the new drain will begin in fall 2025 and be completed by spring 2026, to try to avoid tourist season as much as possible. One lane of travel will be kept open on Commercial Street during construction to maintain traffic flow.

Gov. Janet Mills said in a written statement that “we are working closely with towns and cities to take decisive action that will protect our people, our communities, and our economy from the destructive impacts of climate change. These important awards will help communities across Maine recover from last winter’s storms and upgrade their infrastructure so that they are better prepared for the future.”

The $25.2 million in funding comes from $60 million approved by the Legislature this year that was specifically set aside for improving infrastructure to make it more resilient to storms.

Bruce Van Note, commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation, said that “severe weather events can wreak havoc on the infrastructure that connects us. This funding will help us rebuild those connections and increase their resiliency for the future.”

Other projects funded by the $25.2 million grants include:

• $4 million to the Rumford-Mexico Sewerage District to renovate and flood-proof the wastewater pumping station.

• $1.05 million to the Norridgewock Water District to improve the water transmission main water line.

• $475,000 to Machiasport to move an exposed part of Port Road 1,035 feet inland.

• $200,000 to Lewiston to replace culverts on River Road so that they can better handle heavy water flow.