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Town of Scarborough
Emergency Management Agency

B. Michael Thurlow, Director

Historical Information

This page includes descriptions of past incidents and disasters. You will find links to public record documents as well as state and federal reimbursement information.

Disaster Index

Hurricane Bob 8/19/91
Halloween Storm 10/30/91
Coastal Storm 12/12/92
Blizzard of '93
April Storm 4/16/96
October Flood 1996
Ice Storm of 1998
Severe Thunderstorm 8/24/98

State & Federal Reimbursement Summary
Explanation of Reimbursement Criteria

Hurricane Bob 8/19/91

Hurricane Bob was the first hurricane to hit Maine this decade.   On the evening of 8/18 the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Portland, issued a Hurricane Watch for our area.  By early in the morning on the 19th the Watch had been upgraded to a Warning.  The forecast called for winds of 110-115 mph with a storm surge of 10-15 feet, due to arrive between 7:00 - 8:00 PM.

The emergency response departments of the Town met to discuss the impending storm and the best way to assure the safety of our citizens.  The Emergency Shelter at the Scarborough High School was opened, and an effort began to evacuate the problem coastal areas before the storm hit.  Many of the residents of the coastal neighborhoods voluntarily left, and sought shelter with family and friends.  At the peak the Shelter at the High School had over 1500 guests.  It was managed by the American Red Cross with assistance from the Scarborough Student Rescue.

The Town of Scarborough was very fortunate.  The storm weakened as it passed over Cape Cod, and it's final course took it just East of Scarborough, passing right over the Portland large navigational weather buoy. By shortly after 10:00 PM on the 19th the storm has passed, and it was determined that it was safe to allow residents to return to their homes.  There were many sections of Town that still had no power, so the shelter remained open with over 150 people spending the night.

In the end a total of 3,500 residents left their homes and businesses for the evening to wait out the storm.  The Fire Department answered over 100 different calls for assistance during those brief few hours.  The initial Public Damage estimates came close to $ 150,000 dollars.  The final amount of reimbursements received by the Town for Hurricane Bob were $ 129,906.00.  Close to $ 50,000 of that was direct costs incurred for Police, Fire, Public Works, and Sanitary Dist. operations.   The balance consisted of numerous road shoulders, culverts, and run-off repairs to roads.

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Halloween Storm 10/30/91

A few short weeks after Hurricane Bob, the Town of Scarborough had to deal with another major fall storm.  It was the day before Halloween, hence the name it was given.   The major difference between this storm and Hurricane was that during Bob, most of the damage in Town was to municipal facilities and infrastructure.  During the Halloween storm most of the damage was to private property and businesses.  Following the storm the public damage assessment teams weren't able to come up with enough losses to trigger a Presidential disaster declaration.  Municipal officials and EMA staff worked hard with State and Federal authorities to identify additional private damage in Scarborough to secure the needed declaration.

On November 18, 1991, we did get the declaration which opened a variety of funding sources to the citizens of our community.  Assistance ranged from grants, to SBA loans, to IRS loss deductions on peoples income tax returns. 

Some of the public damages incurred included:

• Damage at Hurd Park (walkways, dune grass, toilet facilities)
• Replacement of the boat launching ramp at Pine Point
• Repairs to the emergency beach access at Massacre Lane
• Damage at Higgins Beach including access stairs, fencing, and beach cleaning
• New pilings for the public boat float at Pine Point

Some of the private damage reports that were received include:

• A large number or residents of Pine Point with severely flooded basements.  The storm surge came over Hurd Park and made a lake out of the area between King Street and what is now Jones Creek drive.
• Close to 3,000 lobster traps were reported destroyed by local lobstermen
• Significant damage to the dock and buildings at the Prouts Neck Yacht Club.
• Damage to the beach houses at the Black Point Inn
• The seawall next to Bayley's Lobster Pound failed as well as one at 10 Vesper Street in Higgins Beach

The total reimbursements received by the Town for municipal damages was $ 23,529.00.   As stated earlier this event caused more damage to private homeowners and businesses.  The benefits to those people come from a number of different sources and are difficult to quantify.

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Coastal Storm 12/12/92

An early winter coastal snow storm caused a precautionary evacuation of many Scarborough residents on 12/12/92.  A major winter snowstorm dumped snow on the mid Atlantic states and proceeded up the eastern seaboard.  The weather forecast called for a Coastal Storm warning, with winds of 40-50 knots with higher gusts.  Seas were forecast to be 15-25 feet with a tide surge of 2-3 feet above normal.  The tides were astronomically high during the time of the storm which left forecasters predicting one of the five highest tides on record in Portland.

Because of the severe flooding in Pine Point during Hurricane Bob, the Town decided to build a temporary dike at the head of the parking lot at Hurd Park.  When the storm was over, they were glad they did.  The parking lot did receive a great deal of the storm surge, but the dike kept the water from doing the damage that it did during Bob.

Initial damage estimates submitted to FEMA were close to $ 25,000.00.

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Blizzard of 1993

On March 3, 1993 the Town of Scarborough started preparing for a blizzard.  The weather forecast was for the storm of the century.  It was to be more powerful than Hurricane Bob dropping 1-3 feet of snow with hurricane force winds, and major coastal flooding.

The Town's emergency plans were put into action, and a department head briefing meeting was conducted to plan the response strategy.  The Police Dept. was able to secure three Hum-Vee units from the Army reserve center to use for patrol and emergency response.   The cruisers were taken off the roads and a police officer, rescue member, firefighter, and army driver was stationed in various sections of Town with each Hum-Vee unit.  These proved invaluable when the traveling got bad.  Public Works decided early on that when the snowfall rate got too heavy, they would concentrate only on the main roads and leave the secondary roads snowed in.

Central Maine Power stationed a crew with a trouble man, bucket truck, and supervisor in Scarborough to coordinate with our personnel and prioritize the emergencies on a local level.  The High School shelter was opened for citizens who voluntarily evacuated the low laying problem areas of the community.

At 4:20 PM on 3/13 the Governor declared a state of emergency.  This opened up the services of the National Guard to assist local communities.  We were able to get two large loaders with operators to assist in keeping the roads opened.  The entire length of the Maine Turnpike was closed, and all citizens were advised to seek shelter.

At the Emergency Operations Center located at the Public Safety building, we recorded a total of 18" of snowfall.  The peak wind gust was 63 mph.  Visibility was often 0.  At 6:00 am 3/14 the eye of the storm passed right over Scarborough and the winds diminished to calm as it would in a hurricane.  Later in the day as we got into the back side of the storm the winds blew the other direction about 40 knots.

The Town received very little damage from the storm, however we did incur almost $ 70,000 in costs for dealing with the event.  Most other communities experienced the same situation.  Since there wasn't enough damage to secure a Presidential Disaster Declaration we were only able to recoup about 10% of our true costs of dealing with the blizzard.  The State of Maine came up with a complicated formula to pay for costs incurred in plowing the roads for emergency access.  In Scarborough we plow over 133 miles of roads numerous times each storm.  Our total reimbursable costs for the Blizzard of '93 was $ 7,587.

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April Storm 4/16/96

During 4/16-17/96 the Town of Scarborough experienced a severe rain event that caused significant flooding because of a substantial snowpack.  We had received fresh snow during February, March, and the first week in April replenishing the snowpack.   During the third week in April we received 3-5 inches of rain in a 16 hour period.   Streams and rivers were unable to contain the attendant snowmelt.  Along the coast the winds averaged 35-45 knots with seas approaching 20 feet.

There was a number of dams in other parts of the State that received substantial damage from this flooding event.  This prompted the State to do a thorough review of dam ownership and safety inspections to prevent future damages.  In Scarborough our damages were relatively mild compared to surrounding communities.  We had damage to the seawall at Higgins Beach including large chunks of concrete that had been washed away by the surf leaving large openings that a child could crawl into and get hurt.  We also lost a 36" culvert on the Dresser Road.

Total reimbursement recouped by the Town for this storm was $ 19,300.00.

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October Flood 1996

The most serious event we have had in recent memory was the great flood of October 1996.  On Sunday evening 10/20/96, it started raining.  A very slow moving low pressure system had been moving slowly up the coast for the past few days. Southern New England had received heavy rains over the past week on the order of 2-6".  At the same time Hurricane Lilly which had formed South of Cuba, crossed Florida, and proceeded East Northeast well off shore.  By the time the low started producing rain in Southern Maine, conditions were right for Hurricane Lilly to feed moisture into the system.  During the day Monday 10/21/96, the rain continued heavily.  When it finally ended the Town of Scarborough had received 15.52" according to NWS Doppler estimates.  Camp Ellis, in Saco hit the jackpot with over 19" of rain.

Emergency operations started on Monday morning when it became apparent that this was not going to be a normal storm.  As soon as people started waking up they discovered that their cellars were flooded from all the rain Sunday night.  The calls for assistance to the Fire Department started.  When it was all over the Fire Dept. answered over 350 calls for service.

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Road washouts and flooding became the major problem.  By evening all major roads in the town were damaged to one degree or the other.  The Maine Turnpike was closed because of major flooding problems there as well.  Because of the dire conditions of the road systems, and the inability of the Rescue units to traverse many roads a request was made to the National Guard for three Hum-Vees to assist the rescue crews.  They were stationed at Engine 5, 6, and 7 fire stations to assist the crews in those areas of town.

Throughout the storm the town electrician, Kippie Mitchell, and Mark Dyer from CMP worked to do emergency power disconnects so people wouldn't get electrocuted in their homes.  The emergency shelter at the High School was opened with the assistance of the Red Cross.

There was one fatality due to the storm, and unfortunately it was in Scarborough.   Robert Snow, a life long resident of Pine Point, was driving with his wife on Old Blue Point Road when the road gave way at the newly repaired culvert at Foxwell Brook.   His pickup dropped 30' into the river with both people trapped.  They both made it out of the truck and spoke to each other as they tried to swim to shore.  In the end Bob's wife made it to shore, but Bob did not.  A massive search began by police and fire personnel through the night and well into the morning.  The rain and water conditions were such that the boats weren't able to do much that night.  At first light the search continued assisted by many of the local clam diggers, and lobstermen.  The Brunswick Naval Air station also sent a helicopter to assist in the search.  Finally, on Wednesday morning two of Bob's fishermen friends found his body a short distance from where his truck landed in the marsh.  Bob was the type of man who would go out of his way to help anyone.  He was on his way to a friends house to help him deal with a flooded cellar when this tragedy happened.  Bob will be sadly missed by everyone in Pine Point, and the entire Town of Scarborough.

To add another twist to this unusual storm, the Portland Water District lost a major 36" water main by the Maine Mall that feeds most of South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, and Scarborough.  for almost three days there was barely any water pressure in the system.  Even after repairs were made a boil order was in effect until Thursday morning.  School had to be called off for three days because the roads were too unsafe for the buses to travel.

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The Scarborough Sanitary District lost two sections of force sewer main on the Old Eastern railroad bed.  The worst one washed 60' of pipe into the Scarborough River allowing raw sewerage to flow into the marsh.

On Monday 10/28/96 we received a Presidential Disaster declaration freeing up federal assistance.  Since the damage was so severe the Federal Highway administration also got involved this time providing 100% reimbursement for road damage on the Federal Highway system.  These are major connector roads like numbered State highways, Payne Rd., Pleasant Hill Rd, etc.

Since there was so much private damage during this storm we made arrangements to have Town Hall used by the various private assistance agencies as a disaster relief center.   In the end over 282 citizens from Scarborough applied for private assistance ranging from SBA loans, to grants.  The total dollar amount of private assistance provided through a great number of agencies exceeded $ 635,000.00.

Public damage amounts exceeded $ 600,000.00 not including the rebuilding of the Foxwell Bridge.  At the time of this report the bridge has been completed, but the final payments are still pending final inspection and review.  We estimate that total public reimbursement for the Flood of '96 will exceed a million dollars when the final figures are in.

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Ice Storm of '98

A major winter ice storm started Tuesday 1/6/98, and continued through Friday 1/10/98. Cold air was trapped at the surface from a strong high-pressure system over Eastern Canada. Warm tropical air rode over the cold air trapped at the surface causing widespread freezing rain. At the peak about 500,000 people in Maine were without power. That is almost ˝ the total population of the State. In Canada tall steel transmission towers came down and over a million people were without power. In Scarborough the damage was mild compared with the rest of the state. We had almost all rain along the coast and those areas never lost power at all. Above Hearn Rd. the rain changed to ice and kept getting worse the farther you drove north. By the time you got to North Gorham it looked like a war. There are miles of primaries down and dozens of poles snapped like matchsticks. People in those areas were told not to expect power for weeks. The main transmission line to Washington County sustained enough damage that they will be without power for weeks down there as well. To illustrate the severity of the situation, on Thursday 1/15, the military was airlifting 50 bucket trucks and crews from North Carolina to Bangor to assist in the cleanup.

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As always all the emergency response departments of the Town of Scarborough did an exemplary job in dealing with this very serious situation quickly, safely, and efficiently. Many of them left their families for days to assist those in our community who were in more urgent need of assistance. For that we should all be very grateful.

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Severe Thunderstorm 8/24/98

On 8/24/98 a severe, level 6 thunderstorm passed through the northern part of Scarborough.  The storm produced extremely heavy winds, hail, torrential downpours, and extended power outages.

The Portland Jetport reported a peak gust during the storm of 70 mph at 4:57 PM.  It was so bad they evacuated the tower for the first time in history.

On the Beech Ridge Road in North Scarborough, trees took down nine sections of telephone poles causing power and cable to be out for hours.  On Saco Street a passing car received substantial damage by a falling tree injuring both occupants.  At 6 Ottawa Woods Road a house received substantial damage when large trees became uprooted and plowed into the second floor and rear deck.

The Town of Scarborough wasn't the only community to feel the damage.  Across northern York and parts of Cumberland counties over 30,000 customers were without power.

Click on the images below to view full size pictures of the damage.

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State & Federal Reimbursement Summary

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Explanation of Reimbursement Criteria

There are basically two general categories of government assistance available after a disaster.  They are public assistance, and as you might expect, private assistance.   The reimbursements covered in this section deal specifically with public assistance that is available to assist municipalities repair infrastructure and recoup costs incurred in dealing with a disaster.  For additional information on private assistance please consult our Recovery page.

Town of Scarborough receives reimbursements from a number of different sources.   Some of those include:

• FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency
• MEMA - Maine Emergency Management Agency
• FHWA - Federal Highway Administration

The funding is dependent on a number of different variables including:

• The County-wide amount of damage incurred by municipalities
• Whether the Governor of Maine is successful in getting a Presidential Disaster Declaration
• The extent and nature of the loss
• The status of the Town's Emergency Plans
• The Town's record keeping and documentation procedures to identify disaster related eligible costs

The chart above lists the major disasters that the Town of Scarborough has incurred over the past few years with the corresponding amount of reimbursed costs.  It is important to note that those dollar figures do not represent the total costs incurred by the Town for each event.  Only those costs that are considered eligible by the various agencies are included.  Some of the items that are normally considered eligible are listed below

• Damage to municipally owned structures
• Infrastructure damage (roads, bridges, culverts)
• Sewer District damage
• Overtime costs directly related to dealing with the disaster by emergency response personnel (fire, police, public works, sanitary district)
• Equipment used during the disaster (fire trucks, cruisers, snowplows, dump trucks, etc)

Once all the eligible costs have been documented and approved by Federal and State inspectors, the Town receives cash payments to offset those costs incurred based on a percentage that varies with each event.  The most common formula involves FEMA paying 75%, MEMA paying 15%, and the Town of Scarborough picking up the remaining 10% as our local share.

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