Posted: 1:07 PM Updated: 7:33 PM Storm surge is the state's biggest concern, experts say.

By CLARKE CANFIELD/The Associated Press

PORTLAND When the biggest of storms strikes the Maine coast, it won't be high winds that cause the most damage. It'll be the storm surge.

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Two teenagers leap out of the way as a large wave crashes over a seawall on the Atlantic Ocean in Kennebunk during the early stages of Sandy last October. Much of the destruction from Sandy was caused by the storm's surge. The impacts of the storm, and what lessons Maine can learn from it, will be a focus of next week's 2013 Maine Beaches Conference.

2012 file photo/The Associated Press

Much of the destruction from Superstorm Sandy last fall was caused by the storm's surge, when rising seawater pushed by powerful winds came ashore and brought widespread flooding and damage to New York and New Jersey.

Sandy's impact and the lessons Maine can learn from the storm will be a focus of next week's 2013 Maine Beaches Conference.

The highest storm tide -- the combination of tide level and storm surge -- in Portland was recorded during the blizzard of 1978, said Stephen Dickson, a marine geologist with the Maine Geological Survey who will speak at the conference. On Feb. 7, 1978, a 2.5-foot storm surge combined with an 11.6-foot tide resulted in a total storm tide of 14.1 feet, he said.

But geologists recently learned that there have been storm surges of 4, 5 and 6 feet through the decades in Portland, according to tide gauge records going back to 1912. The highest storm surge on record was 6.5 feet, on Jan. 24, 1921, but that occurred during low tide so its impact was minimal.

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Beaches conference to focus on lessons from Sandy