The planning committee that revised the Story County Multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan is looking for public comment on the plan before it is finalized. Representatives from communities, school districts, and other agencies from across Story County came together to look at ways to prevent or reduce the impacts of natural and man-made hazards within the county. The results of their hard work will be available online and in hard-copy from July 22 to August 12, 2013 so the public can review this plan and provide inputs on how to improve it.
Story County Emergency Management Coordinator, Keith Morgan said, ‘Each year taxpayers pay billions of dollars for disaster recovery. Some events are predictable, and often these damages could be reduced or eliminated if communities and individuals proactively look at what the risks are and work to adopt strategies to reduce their exposure to these risks.’ The federal government also recognizes the value of the hazard mitigation process and the federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires communities to develop an approved local hazard mitigation plan to remain eligible for certain federal funding.
To help communities and school districts conduct hazard mitigation planning, the Story County Emergency Management Agency invited representatives from County departments, the incorporated cities, school districts to work with AMEC Environment & Infrastructure to update the current county wide hazard mitigation plan. The planning committee and AMEC Environment & Infrastructure conducted risk assessments for 23 natural and man-made hazards such as flooding, tornadoes, hazardous materials incidents, and terrorism and they also evaluated how these events might impact their communities. The committee then used this analysis to develop strategies to reduce potential damages from the various hazards.
The planning committee would now like suggestions from the public on how they can improve the strategies they developed and ensure they are the most effective and cost efficient ways we can lessen impact of future disasters on people and property in Story County. After public comments are collected and considered for incorporation into the plan, it will be sent to the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for approval. The approved plan must then be adopted by the governing body of each participating jurisdiction before becoming official.
The final draft plan will be available for your review at the following locations from July 22 to August 12, 2013:
In hard-copy during normal operating hours at:
Story County Emergency Management Office (7:30 am – 4:30 pm)
(Basement of Story County Administrative Building)
900 6th Street
Nevada, Iowa
(due to emergency response duties, please call 382-7315 to ensure personnel are in the office)
Ames City Hall (8am – 4:30 pm)
City Manager’s Office, 2nd floor SE corner of building
515 Clark Ave, Ames, IA 50010
The online document is a packaged PDF that is large so it may take time to open. To open each chapter you have to click through the linked index on the left side of the document.
For more information on this planning effort, or to provide your comments, please contact Keith Morgan at 515-382-7315 or via e-mail at kmorgan@storycounty.com.
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