MAINE MONITOR • December 27, 2025
Downtown Machias has experienced nine floods at the 100-year level in the past seven years. Ben Edwards, a member of the Upper Machias Bay Master Plan Leadership Committee and vice chair of the Machias Select Board, shared the information during a community meeting earlier this month. Conditions are expected to become more challenging as climate change accelerates, polar ice caps melt, sea levels rise and storms grow more frequent and intense, according to Judy Colby-George, a member of the leadership committee. The meeting, part of a community series, drew about 80 people and was scheduled to focus on downtown flooding in Machias. The next meeting on the Upper Machias Bay Master Plan is scheduled for Jan. 12, and formal recommendations for how to proceed are to be presented to the leadership committee at a public meeting set for Feb. 23.