|
Developing a hazard mitigation plan is often the first step in reducing your community’s risk of
suffering damage during a flood. Hazard mitigation planning is the process of developing a set of
actions designed to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and property from hazards and
their effects. Generally, a hazard mitigation plan does two things:
-
It identifies the hazards in your community
-
It develops a plan to reduce your community’s risk of suffering damage from those hazards
Your community must have a hazard mitigation plan to be eligible for hazard
mitigation grant money from FEMA and Wisconsin Emergency Management.
There are two types of relevant hazard mitigation plans: a Flood Mitigation Plan and an All
Hazards Mitigation Plan.
As the name suggests, a Flood Mitigation Plan is specific to flooding. In this type of
plan, you would identify your community’s flood risk (e.g., what parts of the community flood,
what type of floods tend to occur, etc.) and then develop a plan to reduce flood damage through
structural or non-structural mitigation projects.
Dane County has developed a multi-jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation plan that identifies the
general hazards facing communities in the county. Thirteen local units of government have
participated in the plan development and have identified mitigation projects that could be
performed locally. The county plan and the thirteen local attachments have been approved by FEMA.
FEMA approval of an all hazards mitigation plan is a prerequisite for FEMA and Wisconsin Emergency
Management pre-disaster mitigation project grant funds. Communities in Dane County have two
options for developing a local mitigation plan. They can either develop a stand-alone plan for the
community or they can participate in the county’s process and develop a local attachment to the
countywide plan. Dane County Emergency Management can provide assistance in the development of
either option.
Dane County’s plan is posted Dane County Hazard Mitigation Plan
An All Hazards Mitigation Plan is similar to a Flood Mitigation Plan, only it includes
consideration of all of the natural hazards that your community might face (e.g., floods,
tornados, thunderstorms, etc.).
Wisconsin Emergency Management
has a website devoted to helping communities develop a Hazard Mitigation Plan that meets state
and federal requirements. Wisconsin Emergency Management has also developed a guidebook called
Resource Guide to All Hazards Mitigation Planning in Wisconsin
Dane County has an All Hazards Mitigation plan that identifies the general hazards facing
communities in the county. The Dane County plan can be used as the basis for your community’s
plan, however it cannot be used as a substitute for your own plan. Your community must have its
own FEMA-approved plan to be eligible for FEMA and Wisconsin Emergency Management grant funds.
Dane County Hazard Mitigation Plan
The state of Wisconsin has a
Wisconsin All Hazards Mitigation Plan
on the Wisconsin Emergency Management website.
An All Hazards Mitigation Plan meets the planning requirements for all of FEMA’s
hazard mitigation grant programs (i.e., Flood
Mitigation Assistance, Pre-Disaster Mitigation, and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program). Also, chances
are that flooding is not your community’s only concern. You are probably also concerned about tornados,
winter storms, and other hazards. Finally, creating an All Hazards Mitigation Plan based on Dane
County’s existing plan would probably not require substantially more effort than creating a Flood
Mitigation Plan. For those reasons, the county recommends that communities take an all hazards approach
to planning. However, a Flood Mitigation Plan is all that is necessary to meet the minimum planning
requirement for FEMA’s Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program.
Dane County Emergency Management is available to help your community develop an All Hazards Mitigation
or Flood Mitigation Plan. You can contact Dane County Emergency Management at 266-5950.
Revised: October 18, 2007
|