A study kicked off this spring to assess Scarborough’s vulnerability to sea level rise, storm surge and other environmental threats, and the town will seek input from residents at a public meeting on Aug. 12.

While the vulnerability assessment was launched just a few months after two storms rocked Maine’s coast in January, causing significant damage and flooding in Scarborough, the beginning stages date back to the summer of 2023.

“It seems like a reaction to the storms, but it’s really not,” said Jami Fitch, the town’s sustainability coordinator. “It’s something we’ve had in the works for a while.”

While the recent storms showcased some of Scarborough’s vulnerabilities, the assessment will aid the town in how to address them, Fitch said, and what areas of town should be prioritized.

“It’s going to give us a prioritization list of areas that are vulnerable – both infrastructure and at a neighborhood scale – and give us an idea of what we should be addressing first,” Fitch said. “It’s the first of many steps that are going to go into making Scarborough more resilient to coastal flooding.”

The assessment could come in handy when the town seeks grant funding for projects to address the town’s vulnerabilities, Fitch said.

The assessment is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025 and will give way to an interactive “StoryMap” generated by GEI Consultants in Portland.

“The goal of the StoryMap is to create a user-friendly way to interact with the project results,” Leila Pike, project manager at GEI Consultants, wrote in an email to the Leader. “The town and Scarborough residents can refer back to the StoryMap when examining areas that are at risk of flood inundation to understand the timing or flood scenarios that may cause inundation to occur.”

The public meeting on Aug. 12 will provide an overview of the work being done, Fitch said.

“We’ll also give people an opportunity to provide feedback to let us know if there are areas we may not be aware of or they want to make sure we’re considering certain things,” Fitch said.

The town will follow up with meetings in the coastal neighborhoods of Pine Point and Higgins Beach this summer and in the early fall.

“Those will be very neighborhood focused,” Fitch said.

While Prouts Neck is part of the assessment, the Prouts Neck Association has already engaged the coastal neighborhood on vulnerability concerns, Fitch said, so the town doesn’t have plans to hold a neighborhood meeting there.

The Aug. 12 public meeting will take place at Town Hall and on Zoom from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information on the vulnerability assessment, go to “What’s Happening” under the “Stay Connected” heading at scarboroughmaine.org.