ST. MICHAELS, Md. - Town leaders invited the Maryland Department of Emergency Management (MDEM) to learn about flooding in the town of St. Michaels.
Town leaders say they predict part of the town could be underwater by 2050. They say they have a lot of projects lined up, in need of funding, so they can act on this news now before it's too late.
Commission President David Breimhurst says, "The town has taken a proactive approach to sea level rise and we intend to have our streets and our homes protected by what's projected by 2050. Now, that's a ways off but if we don't start working on it now we'll be way behind the game and we'd rather prevent issues rather than respond to them."
Even during mid-tide, water was just grazing the bottom of docks and roads.
Roy Myers, with the town's sea level rise committee, says a lot of plans are on the table to prevent constant flooding. He says, "They depend very much on the area that we're looking at in the harbor. It may be raising the bulkheads. It might be raising some roads in certain areas. In a lot of cases, it will involve figuring out how we handle the stormwater and large rain events that happen that will be associated with it. Each thing we do will be dependent on the area of town we're looking at."
Secretary Russ Strickland with MDEM says after today's tour, he'd be happy to support future grant applications for flood mitigation projects.
"We'll go back and we'll continue with the grant programs that they have been receiving and search and see any other opportunities in the future."
Breimhurst added that these precautionary projects will also help the future economy of the county. He says, "What we're talking about here today affects the entire county and other parts of the state. St. Michaels drives the 300 million industry for Talbot County. We intend to have our streets and our homes protected by what's projected by 2050."
The pursuance of grants and future flood mitigation projects will be over the next 10 to 15 years.