Hazard Identification and Vulnerability Assessment
This section identifies the hazards that are most likely to impact a jurisdiction and provides a county-wide assessment of physical and economic risks attributable to these hazards.
Importance
To plan for natural disasters and reduce losses, a local government needs to know three things; 1) what types of hazards that threaten that jurisdiction, 2) what will happen to the community when a disaster strikes, and 3) how capable the community is in managing the disaster. This section of the strategy will help answer the first two questions. The answers to these two questions help identify the kind of initiatives that need to be implemented to reduce a community’s overall losses (and which will subsequently be addressed in Section 6, Mitigation Initiatives).
Expectations
To identify hazards and assess risks in the local mitigation strategy, a community will need to identify areas that are highly vulnerable. A community should also inventory and estimate the cost of damage to critical facilities and highly vulnerable public, private residential, and private industrial structures throughout community. A special designation should be given to those facilities and structures that are located in designated hazard areas and are essential to the economy (such as a deep water port facility). A community will also need to provide baseline data and use predictive models to track current and future vulnerability, with particular emphasis on changing natural conditions and community growth. Finally, because of the fact that information included in a vulnerability assessment will come from a wide variety of sources and may be focused on different elements of vulnerability, a community should summarize the results of the vulnerability assessment. State assistance can be provided to help a community in this process.
Guidance
Maps needed to support a community’s vulnerability assessment include the Future Land Use Map from a local government’s comprehensive plan, the Storm Tide Atlas that includes the community, Department of Environmental Protection maps indicating the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) (which can be used as a reference point to establish local/county setback lines and identify coastal areas such as inlet shorelines that are potentially omitted from the CCCL program), and available Flood Insurance Rate Maps. These maps should be reviewed in conjunction with existing maps of your community and should reference any unique hazard-prone areas (such as sinkholes or areas outside of Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) that are subject to flooding) that do not appear on other maps.
The local government comprehensive plans should also be a primary data source for identifying critical facilities and analyzing future trends and conditions. Computer models may be a useful tool for assessing vulnerability but advanced modeling is not necessary to meet these guidelines. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Florida National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Status report may be used to obtain accurate flood insurance information. The State of Florida has Geographic Information Systems (GIS) capabilities and is undertaking numerous special projects, including a Critical Facilities Inventory, which may also help a community make a vulnerability assessment. The Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association has model-generated data on wind vulnerability for 27 coastal counties. Regional Planning Councils may also be good resources for information and technical assistance on hazard vulnerability through their community-based Strategic Regional Plans and comprehensive GIS mapping programs. These are just a few examples of resources available to identify hazards and assess a community’s physical vulnerability to those hazards. Insurance companies, the NFIP, and community property appraisal databases can provide cost and exposure estimates to help a local government compile an economic profile of the community relative to natural hazards.
A wide array of funding sources are also available to support hazard identification and vulnerability assessment. Section 6, Mitigation Initiatives, lists some potential funding sources. The Department of Community Affairs is developing a resource identification strategy that will assist local governments in obtaining funding resources.
Hazard Identification and Vulnerability Assessment: Examples
| Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) |
A community’s Flood
Insurance Rate Map may be used as a base map for identifying floodprone areas. Your
government can mark central infrastructure segments and repetitively damaged residential
structures on these maps. Areas that are prone to flooding that are not included on your
FIRMs should be marked. This information may support updates of the local FIRMs (though
limited map maintenance studies or full map resturdies) to ensure that the existing FIRMs
accurately reflect your community’s flood hazard. Contact: Mr. Leroy Thompson, Florida Department of Community Affairs, Division of Emergency Management, Bureau of Recovery and Mitigation, tel. 850-413-9958. |
| Hazards - United States Software (HAZUS) |
The Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) recently developed a loss estimation model known as HAZUS. This model
includes a wealth of information on critical facilities. The State of Florida has a
version of HAZUS that can support local government hazards mapping. Contact: Mr. Jim Loomis, Florida Department of Community Affairs, Division of Emergency Management, Bureau of Recovery and Mitigation, tel. 850-413-9958. |
| Florida Statistical Abstract |
The University of Florida, Bureau
of Economic and Business Research (BEBR) prints an annual collection of the latest
statistics available on the social, economic, and political organization of Florida. This
reference may be particularly useful in establishing baseline data for the community so
that predictive models of population and economic growth may be developed. This data can
be compared with hazard maps (e.g., FIRMs, wind vulnerability maps) and future land use
maps to provide an integrated view of a community’s current and future vulnerability.
Contact: The Bureau of Economic and Business Research, tel. 352-392-0171 |
| The Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL) Maps |
These maps are compiled by the
Florida Department of Environmental protection on a county basis and indicate areas
vulnerable to the effects of a 100-year coastal storm event. The maps can be used to
predict areas likely to experience major structural damage and storm debris. They can also
be used as a reference point to establish local setback lines and identify coastal areas
such as inlet shorelines that are excluded from the CCCL program. The CCCL maps cover
coastal counties with sandy beaches fronting the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, and
the Straits of Florida. Contact: Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems, tel. 850-414-3181. |
| Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association Wind Pool Data |
The Florida Windstorm
Underwriting Association is comprised of all private insurers who write homeowners’
policies in the state. The Association determines its windstorm pool rates from
model-generated data on wind vulnerability. The windstorm pool was established to help
homeowners who have higher wind vulnerabilities, higher property and liability costs, and
thus have had their wind coverage dropped. Homeowners in areas placed in the windstorm
pool are provided wind coverage by insurers who, in turn, receive state underwriting of
their policies purchased for the windstorm pool areas. Contact: The Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association, tel. 850-296-6105. |
| Property Appraisal Name/Address/ Legal (NAL) Files |
Each county property appraiser
compiles a computer file of property parcel appraisals (that correspond to section maps).
It includes insured and uninsured property, commercial and residential. This county file
is called a Name/Address/Legal (NAL) file and is updated every year before submission to
the Florida Department of Revenue in July. The county file is also updated after a
disaster. Contact: Your county property appraiser. |
| Post-Storm Redevelopment Policy for Beachfront Areas |
The Florida Atlantic
University/Florida International University Joint Center for Environmental and
Urban Problems has developed a framework to help local governments identify particularly
vulnerable beachfront areas. The Joint Center’s approach also provides local
governments with redevelopment options that vary according to the vulnerability level of
each beachfront segment. Contact: Patricia M. Metzger, FAU/FIU Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems, tel. 954-355-5255 |
Hazard Identification and Vulnerability Assessment Guidelines
Mapping
- Provide a multi-hazard map of the community. [The
community’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps may be used as a base to identify surge flood
hazard areas (V zone). Additional areas that flood (A, X, B, C, and E zones) may be shown on
this map. Community Rating System repetitive loss data will also help identify these areas
for mapping. Data from the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association will indicate areas
prone to wind damage.]
- Map current land use patterns and describe development
trends within the planning area, as provided in the Future Land Use and Coastal elements
of the local comprehensive plan. Take particular note of special sites such as mobile home
parks, critical economic facilities or structures, hazardous waste and generator
locations, as well as hospitals and nursing homes.
- Map areas vulnerable to a 100 year storm event and identify
areas designated as "critically eroding" pursuant to Chapter 161, Florida
Statutes. [Refer to the county Coastal Construction Control Line maps as determined by the
Florida Department of Environmental Protection.]
- Describe the community’s access to and ability to use geographic information technology to support hazard identification and risk assessment. [The State may be able to support local governments in the application of mapping technology to risk assessment.]
Inventory
- Provide National Flood Insurance Program information,
including the total number and distribution of policies, community participation rates, as
well as identification of areas and particular properties that experience repetitive
damage. [Refer to the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency’s Florida National Flood Insurance Program
Community Status Report.]
- Provide historical flood depth information throughout the
community. [Refer to the regional Water Management District.]
- Provide an inventory and map of all critical facilities
within the community, including those vulnerable to damage from disasters, such as fire
and police departments, wastewater treatment facilities, and schools.
- Identify topic areas requiring additional study or research to support loss reduction.
Modeling
- Apply models to predict storm damage to existing private
structures and public infrastructure, considering a range of potential disaster scenarios.
- Apply predictive models to relate population growth to
increased vulnerability.
- Provide an economic profile of the planning area including an analysis of the economic potential of high risk areas and the cost of recovering from disasters - both with, and without, existing and proposed mitigation initiatives. [Refer to the National Flood Insurance Program data, insurance company records of exposure, and community property appraisal data.]
Summary
- Summarize the outcomes of the vulnerability assessment. [Required pursuant to the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program criteria.]