INTRODUCTION
You Know the Problem
What is hazard mitigation?
- 80% of Florida's population lives within ten miles of the coast..
- Florida's population is growing fast, and these new residents are settling along the coast.
- Recent disasters, including Hurricane Andrew, almost bankrupted the insurance industry.
- After a disaster, residents want to repair their property as fast as possible.
Hazard mitigation is any action taken to permanently reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from the effects of hazards. Some examples of hazard mitigation include land use planning techniques that limit infrastructure in high hazard areas and programs for retrofitting existing structures to meet new building codes and standards. Ideally, a community can minimize the effects of future hazards through a mix of code enforcement, planning, and responsible development.
Effective mitigation should in no way be seen as an impediment to the growth and continued development of a community. An overarching philosophy of mitigation should be applied to all decisions related to a community’s growth - so that communities across Florida can grow smarter. The result of incorporating mitigation into development practices will be the creation of safer and more economically resilient communities. This guidebook for developing a local mitigation strategy can help a community undertake a comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation.
What is a local mitigation strategy and why is it important?
The local mitigation strategy is a plan that a community can develop to promote hazard mitigation and to manage post-disaster recovery. Developing these strategies in Florida is important because our state is vulnerable to many hazards. Our state is subject both to riverine flooding and coastal flooding. One indication of how vulnerable our communities are to flooding is the high number of National Flood Insurance policies statewide. Florida leads the nation in the number of flood insurance polices - with more than 40 percent of the total number of polices written.
Thunderstorms are also a deadly threat. Florida leads the nation in lightning related deaths, and is among the top ten states prone to devastation from tornadoes. Often less considered, but equally as devastating are freezes, wildfires, and droughts, all of which can have significant economic and social impact.
You Have the Resources
- Local governments have the ability to redirect existing program resources such as Community Development Block Grant funds and state managed housing funds to address mitigation.
- Local governments can draw from existing plans, ordinances, and policies.
- Local governments can access existing staff, such as planners, building officials, and emergency managers, to develop and coordinate the strategy.
Florida is particularly vulnerable to hurricanes. Since 1886, Florida has been impacted by 145 hurricanes and over 250 tropical storms. In addition to the frequency of these natural hazards, over eighty percent of Florida’s population lives in the areas most susceptible to the damaging effects of hurricanes (within ten miles of the coast). The chances for disasters in Florida are rising: Predictions suggest that coastal population growth will increase by 2.4 million by the year 2005. More people will be in harm's way.
And if the forces of nature were not bad enough, the population of our state is also vulnerable to technological and other non-natural hazards. With three nuclear power plants and over 4,400 facilities that report the presence of extremely hazardous substances to the Environmental Protection Agency, the potential impact from a technological disaster is great. Other events, such as civil disturbances, mass migration, terrorism, also threaten the integrity of our daily lives.
Although Florida has a long history of recovering from disasters, recovery will become increasingly difficult because of our rapidly growing population. Recovery, without the help of hazard mitigation efforts, will simply become too expensive. The costs of rebuilding after Hurricane Andrew cost more than $30 billion dollars, threatening to bring down the insurance industry (which is currently examining ways to reduce its exposure in Florida).
The cost of post-disaster recovery has grown at such an alarming rate throughout the United States that the issue of hazard mitigation has gained attention from all levels of government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has developed a National Mitigation Strategy and the State of Florida has created a Statewide Mitigation Strategy. These strategies view planning for the post-disaster situation as the way to ensure a safer community and reduce recovery costs. Additional funding is becoming available to support hazard mitigation efforts. For example, FEMA has recently made some of its disaster funds available to communities before a disaster strikes to reduce the potential for damage. Another new FEMA program, the Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMAP) targets structures that have been repetitively damaged by floods. This funding will provide mitigation planning opportunities for local governments that have been affected by a disaster.
There is a Solution: The Local Mitigation Strategy
- Charts fundamental principles to guide your community in hazard mitigation - before and after a disaster.
- Identifies priority programs and projects for funding.
- Improves the post-disaster decision-making process.
Local governments that take advantage of mitigation planning opportunities will be ahead of the game. They will have the chance to initiate changes in their communities that can permanently reduce the risk of future losses--an opportunity that is often lost in the rush to build back after a disaster to pre-disaster conditions. Local governments that have done mitigation planning will also find themselves in a better position for obtaining mitigation funding that becomes available in post-disaster situations. By identifying and prioritizing projects prior to a disaster, the local government will gather the kind of information that is typically required on applications for post-disaster funding. Since these local governments will have collected and analyzed that information during "blue skies", they will be able to quickly submit applications for disaster funds should they be impacted by an event.
To provide long-term disaster protection for their communities and to complement the national and state mitigation strategies, local governments need their own mitigation strategies. A local mitigation strategy will reflect the concerns unique to a particular community and will help that community identify mitigation opportunities--before a storm hits.
The Basics
The mitigation strategy serves as a bridge between the local government comprehensive growth management plan, the county comprehensive emergency management plan, land development regulations, building codes, and relevant ordinances such as those for floodplain management. It integrates mitigation initiatives established through various policies, programs, and regulations into a single document.
In preparing the local mitigation strategy, a community should identify sections of existing plans and ordinances that may need to be revised to provide a more comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation. From this point, mitigation initiatives can be identified and prioritized--allowing a community to address mitigation in a manageable way. As was noted, this list of programs and projects will help local governments more effectively access available funding - both post-disaster and on an on-going basis.
Preparing a local mitigation strategy is a voluntary--but critically important--process. The strategy should be developed as a separate working document that compiles hazard mitigation planning, projects and programs from a range of existing sources such as the local comprehensive land use plan, the comprehensive emergency management plan, and other related codes and ordinances. It is suggested that the guidelines outlined in this document be followed to ensure that hazard mitigation is comprehensively addressed.
Organization
The recommended strategy is divided into two parts, which include three sections each, as follows:
This guidebook is arranged to correspond with these sections. Each section includes 1) an introduction that indicates the purpose for the section, what can be expected of local governments that voluntarily implement these guidelines, as well as some general guidance on preparing the section, 2) several related examples that help support the development of the section, and 3) a detailed list of criteria with ample space to provide notes or to reference a portion of another document.
It is recommended that this guidebook be used as an index to record where criteria items are addressed in existing plans, ordinances, or policies. While the local mitigation strategy criteria is based on existing planning requirements, additional items may be included to better shape the community’s mitigation choices. Remember, the local mitigation strategy belongs to the community - as government agencies work together, coordinating within and between various city and the county agencies, private sector interests, concerned residents and non-profit organizations - the community is taking an important step toward becoming more disaster resistant.