GARDINER — Roger Bintliff was hosting a Christmas party at his downtown café a year ago when the rain started.
Then the power went out, so they found some candles.
“No warning of a flood, imminent, coming, nothing to that magnitude,” he said.
By the next morning, the Kennebec River started spilling over its banks.
The mayor walked the downtown and people started commenting about how the water wasn’t stopping.
“It just kept coming and coming and coming,” he said.
He owns three buildings downtown and worked to pump water out of the basements. But he couldn’t keep up.
“Water inundated 9 feet in all three basements,” he said. “Which put everything underwater. Eleven refrigerators, three freezers, two ice machines, ovens, mixers, furnaces. Oil tanks were floating.”
Three and a half months later, after working 18-hour days to clean up the mess, he reopened.
On Wednesday, one year to the day of the beginning of the heavy rain and floods that caused millions in damage to many towns in inland Maine, Bintliff’s Corner Brew was once again bustling.
And while his business was closed longer than most, other local small businesses in riverside towns endured similar devastating losses in what state officials are describing as a clear indication that climate change fueled disasters are here to stay.
From March 2022 to May 2024, Maine had nine natural disasters severe enough to be declared presidential disasters or receive emergency declarations, according to the state’s Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission.
“The rising severity and frequency of these storms and floods raise urgent alarms about the risks that climate change is escalating in our state and drives home the imperative that Maine plan for and invest in climate resilience at the state, regional and local levels,” according to the commission’s interim report released in November.
The December 2023 storm was the first of three severe storms to hit Maine in a short period of time, with two arriving in January during astronomical high tides that caused “unprecedented devastation.” The three storms combined caused an estimated $90 million in damage to public infrastructure.
That figure doesn’t include an estimated “millions more in losses for private homes and businesses,” according to the report.
The December storm spanned five days, beginning with rain on the 17th and continuing until the 21st. The report describes catastrophic flooding not only along the Kennebec River, but in towns on the Androscoggin River and Saco River as well.
Hundreds of roads were closed and 45-80 mph winds downed trees and power lines, leaving more than 440,000 properties without power for several days.
Four people died in the storm — two in a vehicle that was swept away by the Swift River in Mexico and two who died in Windham and Fairfield while attempting to clear debris from their properties.
Ten of the state’s 16 counties experienced damage, with a total estimate of more than $20 million.
While rainfall totals varied statewide, 7 inches of rain fell in western Maine, causing the Androscoggin River and its tributaries “to overtop roads, flood houses, wash out culverts and cause extensive damage.”
In Hallowell, along the Kennebec River, The Quarry Tap Room partner Steven LaChance said the water not only filled his basement but got into the subfloor of the restaurant. An adjacent function room that’s at a lower elevation filled with 12-14 inches of water.
“This one kind of buckled us to our knees I guess you could say,” he said. “It’s the biggest we endured since being open.”
The restaurant, which opened in 2015, stayed closed following the 2023 flood until mid-February and in the process, they moved their heat pump vents and hot water heater up another level.
LaChance said he’s relieved the Quarry had a busy summer, taking advantage of outdoor seating along the river that’s a popular draw for diners.
“This year we’ve got to be careful, we’re watching our pennies a little bit more so coming out of here into spring again, crossed fingers, no high water,” he said. “We should be in a lot better shape in 2025.”
Up in Augusta, Gov. Janet Mills toured Front Street along the river Dec. 20, 2023, while the water continued to lap the backside of the buildings. Just a few yards away, Cushnoc Brewing’s riverside tasting room was filled with water all the way up to the lightbulbs, said founder Tobias Parkhurst.
And while the restaurant’s main level did not sustain damage, Central Maine Power cut off electricity to downtown buildings as a precaution following the storm.
“The scary part for us was, we now have no heat,” he said. “Our propane tanks are floating down the river. We have no power so we can’t plug in anything. It’s not like you can run a generator off the sidewalk or inside the building.”
After just a few days, Cushnoc reopened the main restaurant, but it took six to eight months to fix the damage to the tasting room. Parkhurst said he feels they’ve done all they can do to be ready for the next flood but is concerned that there could be a tendency now to go overboard with warnings when a major flood is not imminent.
“Unfortunately, I think the volume of that storm took everybody by surprise,” he said. “And what I feel like has happened is that all of the mechanisms in place to warn us are now just sort of like a little more sensitive. Now we’re in the situation when they are ringing this flood alarm bell more often. We need to know when there’s really water coming not when it might be coming.”
Bintliff said he too has done most of what could be done to be better prepared and has ideas for other steps he can take. He hopes for a more organized system of notification for all business owners before the next big flood.
“In the event there’s a major flood coming, there should be a lot of phone calls, emails, text messaging, police on the street,” he said.