State announces funding to face mounting storm damage

April 27--BARNSTABLE -- Hammered by three March nor'easters, it was easy for many on the Cape to forget the punishing flooding that occurred in a January nor'easter that left much of Provincetown's downtown under 2 or more feet of water and caused damaging flooding of neighborhoods and roads from Provincetown to Sandwich. The March 1-3 nor'easter alone resulted in 225,000 insurance claims in the Northeast and over $2 billion in economic losses, according to reinsurance broker Aon Benfield's Global Catastrophe Recap for March 2018.

Following those storms, Gov. Charlie Baker's office decided to increase funding for planning and projects to improve coastal resiliency for the state's municipalities, said Kathleen Theoharides, the assistant secretary of climate change in the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Theoharides spoke to the Barnstable County Coastal Resources Committee -- which includes municipal representatives along with environmentalists -- Thursday introducing two grants from the state's Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program.

As the Cape found out this past winter, the intensity and frequency of big storms is occurring as the Northwest Atlantic warms faster than almost any other ocean. But impacts are also being felt on land to cold-weather crops like cranberries and maple syrup, to people who suffer from more days with extreme heat and from tick-borne illnesses ,and plant and tree pests that are spreading north as the region warms.

"This is a problem that spans sectors and borders," Theoharides said.

In March, Gov. Baker unveiled a $1.4 billion environmental bond bill that included $300 million to bankroll climate change adaptation projects. Already funded is the $5 million for the two municipal vulnerability grant programs, a tenfold increase over last year's allotment, Theoharides said.

Deadlines for this year's grant programs are approaching fast and applications for planning grants are due May 11. These grants of between $10,000 and $75,000 are used to help towns engage their community to identify strengths and vulnerabilities related to climate change, create a prioritized list of actions they want to tackle with the goal of receiving a Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness designation from the state. That designation qualifies them for the Action Grants of between $10,000 and $400,000 to help them implement their wish list by assessing risk, updating bylaws and plans, redesigning and retrofitting existing protections, and using nature-based solutions for heat, storm, health and other climate impacts. Those grant applications are due by May 18. All funding for projects has to be used by June 30, 2019.

Five million dollars may not seem like a lot of grant money when split among 350 or so towns, but Robert Duncanson, Chatham's director of natural resources, said any amount of monetary assistance from the state was welcome.

"A lot of projects don't tend to be hugely expensive," he said. Rebuilding a dune, or replacing a small culvert with a larger one, often don't require large amounts of cash. Duncanson could see money from the grant program helping them to do better big-picture planning for the future to educate private landowners on what they can do to combat climate change impacts and coordinate their responses with town efforts.

Provincetown completed its Hazard Mitigation Plan required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2016, said environmental planner Tim Famulare. He said his town has been working on coastal resiliency planning for years, but the extent of the flooding this year surprised many.

"It does seem the state is putting its money where its mouth is," Famulare said of the grant program. Duncanson said the real test will be whether there will be grant money to help them pay for the climate change resiliency projects they envisioned in the planning phase.

Theoharides said $2 million has been allocated to staff to support towns and there was another $5 million in the state's capital plan for next year to fund another round of grants.

"We are looking to make this a continuing priority," she said.

-- Follow Doug Fraser on Twitter:@dougfrasercct.

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