The Town of St. Michaels has been awarded another large grant to tackle the threat of rising sea levels. Working with the Maryland Department of Emergency Management, the Town has secured a $210,000 federal grant. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved this grant money for the Town’s Harbor Flooding and Stormwater Mitigation Project.
This federal grant follows two state grants amounting to $115,000. These grants from the Department of Natural Resources are currently funding concept designs for two flood-prone areas.
The grants are the results of efforts by the Town’s Climate Change/Sea Level Rise Commission which was empaneled in the summer of 2021. Commission Chair Roy Myers says, “This latest grant builds upon our current efforts to complete the concept designs for flooding mitigation in our main harbor areas. We are grateful to MDEM and FEMA for their support and are looking forward to working with them on the implementation of this grant.”
St. Michaels Commissioners President David Breimhurst says, “This is terrific news for St. Michaels and for Talbot County. St. Michaels is home to the County’s second largest employer and is the primary source of the County’s multi-million-dollar tourism industry. Protecting our Town from the threat of sea level rise is our top priority. We congratulate and thank Mr. Myers and his commission for the many hours of hard work that have paid off with these significant grants.”
The CC/SLR Commission’s work has become a vital element of the town’s long range plans and will help shape the Town’s 2025 Comprehensive Plan. The Commission has been reaching out to the public for guidance and is providing updated information. Recently, the state Department of Natural Resources partnered with the CC/SLRC, linking its online MYCOAST tool with the St Michaels Floodwatch website. The Floodwatch interactive tool was created by Commission member Andrew Thaler and can be found online at https://stmichaelsfloodwatch.com. There is also a link on the town website, stmichaelsmd.gov Residents can use the tool to understand how their Talbot County properties might be affected by sea level rise projections. Roy Myers says, “It is a graphic view of why the town needs to plan today for tomorrow’s sea level rise and stormwater flooding.”
Jerry McConnell says
Perhaps the Town of St Michaels can use these grants to establish a vocational training program to manufacture and distribute sandbags to local residents.
Unless a colossal “soup bowl” is created — in, say, Northern Africa—for sea level rise to drain into, the only way folks in Oxford, St Michaels and elsewhere will be able to keep the water out is with walls of sandbags.