The Pacific County Emergency Management Agency is asking for public comments and reviews on the new Pacific County Hazard Mitigation Plan. The comment period lasts until December 22, 2021.
Two Rivers Emergency Management Planner Tony Gertz has joined with PCEMA to write the newest plan. He has been writing these types of plans for the past 10 years. This newest plan is intended to last for the next 5 years.
This plan has been funded by the government. "It is a program that was set up in 2000 by Congress to bring communities together and bolster their natural hazard resilience," Gertz said. The program has two goals. First it is to get communities to produce mitigation plans in case of natural disasters. Second, it qualifies entities within the plan area to have access to FEMA resources and grants that they would not have access to without an approved plan.
The previous plan was approved by the State and FEMA in 2016 without any revision requests. This year the big challenge to get this plan pulled together was getting people to work remotely because of pandemic protocols.
The draft of the plan is now available for public comment. This is the time for PCEMA to collect input, and answer questions. Once the comment period is over it goes to the State Emergency Management Division for a preliminary review where revisions can be requested by the State. Then the plan is sent to FEMA for their review. After any revisions requested by FEMA are completed, FEMA approves it.
To read through the draft of the plan go to https://www.pacificcountysheriff.com/plans.html.
Hazard Mitigation Plan Overview
The Pacific County Hazard Mitigation Plan is 165 pages and presented in five sections.
Section 1: This section is required by FEMA so they can see the steps that are taken as the county goes through the planning process. This includes meetings, discussions, and surveys taken during the process. It also lists the types of technical documentation used.
Section 2: This section presents an overview of Pacific County. It includes maps and statistical information. The information includes tables of population changes, structure inventory, and school districts. Section 2 gives the reviewers an idea of what is in Pacific County with every having to visit the county or Washington in person.
Section 3: This is the risk assessment section. It is the most data-heavy portion of the plan. It presents the analysis of facilities like hospitals, schools, and neighborhoods and their location in hazard areas. These areas include flood planes, tsunami inundation zones, coastal erosion locations, river flood zones, and wildfire danger areas. The section contains rankings of risk assessments for certain locations.
Section 4: This is the Mitigation Strategy Section which outlines what can be done with the risk assessment data for FEMA. It discusses the capabilities of entities in the county and their proposed response to natural disasters. This includes strategies that reduce the risk to these hazards. This section contains risk mitigation projects which are important since the projects can qualify for direct funding from FEMA. If there is a project that is missing from this section, be sure to speak up and get it added to the plan.
Section 5: Summing up this section in one word: appendices. The contents of this section include screenshots, tables, and information that was important to the creation of the plan, but did not fit in the main sections of the plan.
Gertz commented that the most important sections for the public to look at are Section 2 and 4. Section 2 lists what is in Pacific County so residents and workers need to look for missing information or ways to improve the information with first-hand knowledge.
He also said that Section 4 is important because the public might have more mitigation projects that will help their local communities. For example, suggesting that culverts need replacing on A Street to prevent flooding during torrential rain. This makes the plan better and opens the county up for more FEMA grants.
If you are interested in reviewing the plan, please contact Scott McDougall at smcdougall@co.pacific.wa.us or Tony Gertz at tony@tworiversem.com. They will happily take any public comments and suggestions.