In the wake of one of the stormiest years Maine has seen — with five weather-related disaster declarations in 2023 in a state that rarely has more than one — lawmakers are considering ways to minimize the hardships caused by a growing risk of flooding.

One bill under consideration by lawmakers in Augusta would require property sellers to tell prospective buyers if a parcel is in a known flood hazard zone or if they know about any past flooding damage.

Most states have a law in place that ensures property buyers are told if the parcel they’re plunking down money for has flooded in the past. Maine, though, has no requirement.

With climate change spurring ever more severe storms, the lack of a “right to know” law in the Pine Tree State means that many owners of the 33,000 homes and businesses located in flood-prone areas may not realize the danger they face.

The state director of resource information and land use planning, Judy East, told the Judiciary Committee last week that many buyers are unaware of flood risks or of the necessity for securing flood insurance for some properties. Standard homeowners insurance doesn’t provide coverage for flood damage.

One clue that it’s a potentially serious problem is that three-quarters of Maine properties within flood zones are not covered by flood insurance, according to the Maine Floodplain Management Program.

The proposed disclosures, sponsored by state Sen. Stacy Brenner, a Scarborough Democrat, are “an essential tool for communicating flood risk,” according to Chad Berginnis, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers.

Berginnis told legislators that flood losses nationally have been doubling every decade since the 1990s, one big reason that South Carolina, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey and Hawaii opted last year to impose requirements for sellers to make sure buyers are aware their properties are in a floodplain recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A large storm a week before Christmas that caused flooding damage across much of Maine emphasized the risk that property owners in flood-prone areas face in an era where heavy rains, coastal storms and other weather woes are growing more frequent and more severe.

East said the five federal disaster declarations in Maine last year represent “an extraordinary number” and are an indication the state’s “flood regimes are changing and they’re changing significantly.”

It’s an issue becoming an ever-hotter topic among policymakers seeking to limit the damage to the economy and to the lives of Mainers.

Supporters said that greater transparency when real estate changes hands will lead to more awareness, more insurance coverage and more steps to limit the havoc that high waters can cause.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who signed legislation establishing a “right to know” about flooding in any property sale, said in September that the new law in the Empire State “marks a monumental step forward” in the effort to protect residents “from the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.”

But Andy Cashman, a lobbyist for the Maine Association of Realtors, told the Judiciary panel the proposed law isn’t needed.

He said there are “many factors that could create harm, confusion and liability for parties involved in a real estate transaction” if the measure were to become law in Maine.

As it is, Cashman said, sellers are already mandated to disclose known defects about a property when they list it for sale, something that would include any known flood damage.

But advocates aren’t so sure.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, which gave Maine an F for its flooding disclosure requirements, said that “many Americans who are about to make one of the biggest financial investments of their lives have zero knowledge of whether a house has flooded and is likely to flood again.”

“This problem could be solved simply by having access to information — information that the seller of the home may have,” the council said.

Without disclosure, it can be tough, and perhaps impossible, to learn that a particular home or business has been flooded in the past.

Simply being in a designated flood zone doesn’t mean a flood ever occurred in any given area, though it’s a valuable piece of information for assessing risk. But some places outside the mapped zones have suffered from flooding as well.

“Flood risk goes well beyond the special flood hazard areas,” East said.

James Nadeau, a land surveyor from Portland with extensive experience with floodplain issues, said there should be a section on a seller’s property disclosure form that makes it clear if there are known flooding issues, something with the potential to impact a property’s value.

“With a changing global climate, expanding real estate development, and vegetation loss, bringing actual flood risk more in line with real estate value requires improved seller flood hazard disclosure,” Nadeau said.

In an April 2023 letter to congressional leaders, FEMA urged them to take steps on Capitol Hill to require sellers and landlords to provide information about flood risks to home buyers and renters.

It said the lack of information in real estate transactions is “a significant barrier to addressing the nation’s flood risk.”

In a 2022 report examining flooding disclosure requirements in each state, FEMA cited a list of 10 items that ought to be mandated. Only one state, Louisiana, required all of them at the time.

Maine got a zero in the FEMA report — but so did most of New England.

Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire also came up short on every requirement FEMA seeks to lock into law.

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