Portland, ME Hurricane & Storm Risk: What the Record Actually Shows
This is Portland, Maine -- on Casco Bay in Cumberland County, not Portland, Oregon. Despite its name, the city is a genuinely water-defined place: of its 69.44 total square miles, only 21.31 square miles are land, with the remaining 48.13 square miles being water, a reflection of how far Portland's own city limits extend out into Casco Bay. That geography gives Portland real, open-water exposure at its working waterfront -- the Old Port, Commercial Street, and the piers and wharves lining the harbor. What Portland does not have, at least not as anything independently confirmed in the research behind this page, is a documented account of a specific historical hurricane striking the city itself. What it does have is a real, dated, and well-documented January 2024 winter-storm sequence that set a new astronomical-tide record and flooded named piers, wharves, and waterfront businesses. This page lays out what is actually on the record, and is direct about where that record stops.
What This Research Could Not Confirm About a Historical Hurricane Landfall
Coastal New England's best-known hurricane, the 1938 Great New England Hurricane, is often assumed to have left a mark on every working harbor city on this stretch of coast -- and Portland, with its exposed Casco Bay frontage and historic waterfront, looks like exactly the kind of place it would have hit hard. But no Portland-specific damage account for the 1938 hurricane, or for any other individual historical hurricane, was independently confirmed in the research behind this page. That is a disclosed gap in the readily available record, not a claim that Portland was spared. Anyone who needs a definitive answer on a specific historical hurricane's impact on Portland should check NOAA's own historical hurricane database directly rather than assume either a direct hit or a clean miss.
What can be said with real sourcing is the broader regional pattern: Maine's coast absorbed nine separate presidential disaster declarations for coastal storms between March 2022 and May 2024 alone. That figure is regional, not Portland-specific, and should be read as context for how frequently this coastline has been hit by damaging storms in recent years -- not as a stand-in for a confirmed Portland hurricane account.
The January 2024 Storm: A Record Tide, Not a Hurricane
The clearest, most consequential storm event on Portland's actual record is not a hurricane at all -- it is the January 13, 2024 winter-storm sequence, preceded by another storm just three days earlier. Together they combined roughly 2.9 inches of rain, 60 mph wind gusts, and 15 to 20 foot wave heights with a record-breaking astronomical high tide of 14.57 feet, which broke the previous record of 14.17 feet set in a 1978 storm. That combination of an already-record tide plus storm surge and wave action is what did the damage, and it is a useful reminder that a place does not need a hurricane on its books to have a real, documented flood event.
The named damage from that storm is specific and Portland's own: the Old Port district and the Back Cove area flooded; Portland Pier was submerged by Fore River water; the Maine State Pier was completely submerged; Commercial Street flooded at Chandler's Wharf; DiMillo's Floating Restaurant sustained damaged pilings, broken hinges, and flooding in its buildings; and Becky's Diner had its deck and surrounding area flooded. This is real, dated, Portland-specific damage, not a regional storm story borrowed from a neighboring town.
The recovery has a real, sourced dollar figure attached to it: Maine's Department of Transportation, through its Working Waterfront Resiliency Grant Program, allocated $6.5 million in state grant funding to repair four named piers and wharves -- Maine Wharf, Custom House Wharf, Portland Pier, and Widgery Wharf -- with damage attributed to the December 2023/January 2024 winter-storm sequence and its accompanying record tides. No larger, itemized total-damage figure for Portland's waterfront as a whole was confirmed in this research; only that $6.5 million repair-grant figure should be cited.
Sunny-Day Flooding and the FEMA Flood-Map Fight
Separate from any single storm, parts of Portland's waterfront -- Commercial Street specifically -- already experience periodic flooding on clear days with no storm present at all, driven by high astronomical tides combined with sea-level rise. This chronic pattern is documented and current, and it is worth treating as its own risk category rather than folding it into the January 2024 storm story.
The regulatory picture around it is genuinely two-sided and currently active. Commercial Street is not currently designated a FEMA high-risk flood zone, despite this existing sunny-day flooding, and modeling cited in coverage of Maine's flood-map modernization effort projects that this kind of clear-day inundation could become a monthly occurrence by 2030, up from a few times a year today. That same modeling estimates a single 100-year storm event by 2050 could cause roughly $16 million in damages to buildings along Commercial Street. Portland residents and officials have formally appealed FEMA's proposed updated flood maps, hiring engineers to challenge the new designations, while simultaneously adopting new zoning that allows taller buildings within flood zones if they are designed for sea-level-rise resilience. Both of those efforts were active and unresolved as of the research behind this page.
What This Means for Anyone Evaluating Storm Risk in Portland Today
Put together, Portland's storm-risk picture is that of a working harbor city that is majority water by official area, with a real, dated, record-setting flood event in January 2024 that submerged named piers and flooded named waterfront businesses, plus a separate and ongoing chronic tidal-flooding pattern that current FEMA flood maps may not fully capture. What Portland does not have, at least not in the record this research could confirm, is a documented account tying a specific historical hurricane to city-specific damage. Both halves of that picture matter: a real, recent flood event on one hand, and an honest gap in the historical hurricane record on the other -- neither should be read as the whole story.
Anyone evaluating a specific Portland property for storm or flood risk should pull its current FEMA flood-zone designation directly from FEMA's Flood Map Service Center at msc.fema.gov, check the City of Portland's own floodplain and waterfront-zoning materials directly with the city, review NOAA's historical storm-events database for any hurricane or tropical-storm tracks affecting Casco Bay and Cumberland County, and confirm current emergency guidance with the Maine Emergency Management Agency. Nothing on this page substitutes for that official guidance, and it should not be treated as a professional flood-risk assessment, insurance determination, or engineering evaluation for any specific property.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Portland's total area (69.44 square miles, split into 21.31 square miles of land and 48.13 square miles of water) is drawn from Wikipedia's entry on Portland, Maine. The January 13, 2024 storm's record 14.57-foot astronomical high tide (surpassing the prior 14.17-foot record set in a 1978 storm), 60 mph wind gusts, 2.9 inches of rain, and 15-20 foot wave heights, along with the specific named flooding of the Old Port, Back Cove, Portland Pier, the Maine State Pier, Commercial Street at Chandler's Wharf, DiMillo's Floating Restaurant, and Becky's Diner, are drawn from Wikipedia's dedicated "2024 Portland, Maine flood" article. The $6.5 million Maine Department of Transportation Working Waterfront Resiliency Grant Program funding to repair Maine Wharf, Custom House Wharf, Portland Pier, and Widgery Wharf is drawn from Spectrum News's December 3, 2024 report, "Portland to get $6.5M to repair storm damage to waterfront"; no larger itemized total-damage figure for Portland's waterfront was confirmed and none is asserted here. The chronic sunny-day tidal flooding on Commercial Street, its current status outside FEMA's high-risk flood-zone designation, the projection that clear-day inundation could become monthly by 2030, the estimated $16 million in potential Commercial Street building damage from a single 100-year storm event by 2050, and Portland's formal appeal of FEMA's proposed updated flood maps alongside its new sea-level-rise-resilient zoning for taller buildings in flood zones, are drawn from The Maine Monitor's reporting on Maine's flood-map modernization effort, consistent with companion coverage from Maine Public and PBS. The absence of a confirmed Portland-specific historical hurricane-landfall account, including for the 1938 Great New England Hurricane, was a specific, targeted finding of this research, not an oversight. The figure of nine presidential disaster declarations for coastal storms affecting Maine between March 2022 and May 2024 is regional context, not a Portland-specific data point. For current flood-zone determinations and hurricane-preparedness guidance, contact the City of Portland directly, FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov), and the Maine Emergency Management Agency. Nothing on this page is a substitute for official emergency-management guidance or a professional flood-risk, insurance, or engineering assessment of any specific property.