The Wrack

What can one man learn from one little dryer fire?

In October, representatives from 10 southern Maine beach communities gathered to share their experiences preparing for coastal storms, particularly in the context of rising seas. We report some of what we heard during the half-day program.

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 Sandys 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, 6/15/2014.

When Facilities Manager John Speight watched a pickup truck accidentally drive into what hed thought was a well-protected propane tank at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm last weekend, his first thought was: I hear the hiss, so Im still alive.

His second thought was: lets keep it that way.

We have developed 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.