Portland installs marker showing how much of city will be underwater by 2050

Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling declared a ‘call to action’ for residents on Friday during the unveiling of a High-Water Mark (HWM) sign at Portland Pier, saying the worst ravages of climate change can still be avoided if communities commit to substantive action to lower carbon emissions.

“Today is really a call to action,” he said. “We still can change this outcome. It is not inevitable. We are causing it. If we begin to take the steps we need to take locally, perhaps we can impact the world globally.”

Federal reports have shown that, if nothing is done to alter the course of climate change, the Northeast will experience an unprecedented level of flooding in urban areas, like Portland.

The HWM signs are part of a national initiative to educate local communities about how high water levels could rise during future weather events, with the one at Portland Pier showing future storm surge levels that would easily overtake the pier and cause substantial flooding.

“If you look at that sign there, understand that that surge means all of us are pretty much under water in the next 30 years,” Strimling continued. “It can’t get any more clear than that.”

“This is information bounded by and informed by science,” said Bill Needelman, Portland’s Waterfront Coordinator. “This is an important step for our community, to rely on science for our decision-making.”

Flood damage cost FEMA $48 billion between 1998 and 2014, and a 2017 NOAA report outlining multiple sea-level rise scenarios shows that, by 2050, Mainers will see an increase of at least six inches.

(Top photo: Strimling speaking at the unveiling. | Cara DeRose)