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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Maryland Hazus-Multi Hazard Flood Study
"The Hazus Multi-Hazard (Hazus-MH) flood model is being used by the State of Maryland as part of a comprehensive vulnerability assessment of the state's built environment to riverine and coastal flooding. The Eastern Shore Regional GIS [geographic information system] Cooperative (ESRGC) at Salisbury University is taking the lead in the study, which measures four determinants of potential flood loss: 1.) Amount of county land area susceptible to a 100-year flood; 2.) Amount of square footage of buildings potentially damaged; 3.) Number of buildings potentially damaged; and, 4.) Amount of direct economic losses directly related to buildings. The product of this study is a report, An Assessment of Maryland's Vulnerability to Flood Damage (August, 2005) that incorporates Hazus-MH analyses and GIS maps into key sections of the report. Part 1: History of Flooding; Part 2: Floodplain Development (Hazus-MH was used to quantify and show distribution of buildings and population in floodplains); Part 3: Modeled Flood Vulnerability Estimates (Hazus-MH was used to depict flood scenarios and damage estimates); Part 4: Mitigation Strategies; Part 5: Flood Mitigation Projects; Part 6: Funding Mitigation; and, Part 7: Recommendations Appendices provide detailed Hazus-MH flood vulnerability analysis for each county in Maryland. Maryland's study provides a useful framework for a statewide flood vulnerability analysis that can be adapted by other states. The study establishes baseline data that can be used to measure and monitor trends in exposure of the built environment to flooding."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Stockton's Emergency Response: A Smooth Operator
"Hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, explosions, influenza - all emergencies, hazards, and disasters have one key concept in common: an emergency operations plan (EOP). Nearly one week before Hurricane Sandy ravaged the New Jersey coast, communities prepared for the storm, but many were not nearly prepared for what actually took place. Through constant training and exercise, staff at The Richard Stockton College in Galloway, New Jersey reviewed their EOP and this formulated a successful response to Sandy."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: One Community's Efforts to Battle Future Flood Loss
"Wrecked and ruined homes and shipwrecked boats were the haunting images embedded in the minds of many residents of New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy ravaged the coast in late October 2012. The storm caused the Atlantic Ocean to create vast flooding that inundated much of the state's coast. Some homes in Tuckerton Beach, a waterfront neighborhood within the Borough of Tuckerton, were washed completely off their foundations and others sustained major damage from the high velocity waves and the surge that flooded the area.
Aware that flooding was likely to occur in Tuckerton Beach, Harold Spedding, the emergency management coordinator of Tuckerton, joined the mayor and signed a mandatory evacuation declaration for residents prior to Sandy's arrival."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Louisiana State University Promotes Building Safer, Stronger, Smarter
"Twenty years ago, after leveling much of south Florida, Hurricane Andrew slammed into Louisiana. Although it caused widespread destruction, the hurricane had at least one positive effect.
The 1992 disaster spurred Louisiana State University's Agricultural Center, known as the AgCenter, to expand its outreach and education program for residents - an effort that continues to evolve even now. At that time, staffers produced consumer and contractor guides, and conducted workshops and demonstrations on home elevation."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Mitigation Techniques Save a Bungalow in the Meadow
"As Hurricane Sandy moved across the Atlantic Ocean in late October 2012, coastal New Jersey residents prepared for the storm's impact by moving their cars and boarding up windows and doors. Many residents expected to quickly return to their homes and begin preparing to celebrate the upcoming holiday season. Sam Juliano and his neighbors in West Creek, New Jersey did not expect the five foot surge the storm brought that ravaged his community. Since he and his wife rebuilt their home nearly three years ago to the new building standards, they escaped the storm's wrath with minor damage and cleanup unlike the majority of the residents on their street."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Sandbag Levee Saves Homeowner from Flooding - and Grief
"As heavy rains from Hurricane Isaac poured down over the town of Sorrento in late August 2012, longtime resident Barry J. Waguespack sprang into action to protect his home from serious damage - with a little help from some good friends, his parish government, and a few prisoners."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Twenty Feet High and Storm Ready
"Life on the bayou isn't easy. But despite the hazards, hardships, and hurricanes, the Assevado family cannot imagine living anywhere else. [...] Rebuilding their home stronger and smarter always remained the family's goal.
'We like living on the bayou,' Assevado said. 'It's part of my husband's culture of being a fisherman.'
Federal assistance helped make their goal a reality. The family received $30,000 from their insurance policy through the National Flood Insurance Program's (NFIP's) Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC) program. They used that money to pay for elevating their home. The family also received federal assistance from The Road Home program instituted after Hurricane Katrina and a U. S. Small Business Administration loan."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Safe Above Ground in Newcastle
"One year after Ronda and Billy Johnson installed a safe room in their garage, their home was totally destroyed by a tornado. It proved a wise investment because that safe room saved their lives that day.
A powerful EF-5 tornado ripped through Newcastle, Oklahoma, and nearby communities on May 20, 2013, destroying homes and taking 24 lives. Ronda and her daughters, Kylie and Raylee, plus two family dogs, took shelter from the storm in the safe room."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Woman's Hospital Prepared for Storms
"As Hurricane Isaac's strongest winds and rains moved inland and into the Louisiana capitol city of Baton Rouge, Woman's Hospital was ready. When the power started flickering at the hospital's new campus, administrators made the choice to go 'off the grid' for their energy supply.
They switched to generators to power electronic medical monitoring devices, other technologies, and general operations. The staff had babies to deliver, surgeries to perform, and other female patients to care for. The hospital needed steady, reliable power - and three new generators supplied it."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Twenty Survive in Neighbor's Safe Room
"When Jerry and Linda Woods bought a home with a safe room, they made their neighbors aware that they were also welcome to use it.
That's exactly what happened on May 20, 2013. When the warning sirens sounded, 20 people from the neighborhood crammed shoulder to shoulder into the Woods' safe room as a violent tornado ripped through Moore."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Information Sheet: National Preparedness Goal, Second Edition - What's New
"Preparedness is the shared responsibility of our entire nation. With so many people involved and so much at stake, it is important to establish a common preparedness goal. The first edition of the National Preparedness Goal, released in September 2011, set the vision for preparedness nationwide and identified the core capabilities necessary to achieve that vision across the five mission areas-Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response and Recovery. The second edition of the National Preparedness Goal incorporates critical edits identified through real world events, lessons learned and implementation of the National Preparedness System."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Information Sheet: National Preparedness Goal, Second Edition: Overview
"Preparedness is the shared responsibility of our entire nation. With so many people involved and so much at stake, it is important to establish a common preparedness goal. The first edition of the National Preparedness Goal, released in September 2011, described a vision for preparedness nationwide and identified the core capabilities necessary to achieve that vision across the five mission areas-Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response and Recovery. The second edition of the National Preparedness Goal incorporates critical edits identified through real world events, lessons learned and implementation of the National Preparedness System."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Pumping Station Safe Rooms
"Protection from high winds and floodwaters is an ongoing challenge for people who live and work in Southeast Louisiana. Shielding operators of the area's crucial pumping stations is critical, especially during major storm events. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, leaders in Jefferson Parish found a solid solution to this challenge at 13 major pumping stations - they built high-rise safe rooms designed to withstand the strongest of winds."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Relief When New Jersey Couple Returns Home
"Fred Harvey and his wife, Cecilia, were on vacation when Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy struck New Jersey causing severe damage along the coast. While viewing a news story of the storm, they realized they were viewing the damage to their neighborhood in Holgate, New Jersey. Although not seeing their own home, they realized that most, if not all, of the residences in their neighborhood were damaged to some extent. [...] The Harveys elevated their home in 1999-2000 shortly after purchasing it. They were moving from Manalapan in central New Jersey and making this their permanent home. They were not aware of any previous storm damage to the residence but Harvey stated, 'We had the home elevated just to feel safer.'"
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Winning the Battle Against High Wind Events
"Hurricane Isaac's winds, rain, and flooding were a big test for the new Plaquemines Parish Government Administrative Headquarters. The building, purchased shortly after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, was refitted with exterior storm panels beginning in 2010.
The protective measures were funded with a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). HMGP pays 75 percent on approved projects that will prevent or reduce damage from storms and other natural disasters. These grants are made available for both public and private projects.
Isaac would determine if the measures were effective and if the move to the new headquarters was a good choice."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Safe Room Protects Oklahoma Family
"When a massive tornado was sweeping across central Oklahoma on May 20, 2013, Mindy Chaddock and nine family members quickly took refuge in her mother's underground safe room. The house above them was reduced to rubble, but the family survived.
As the day began, there was little indication that an EF-5 tornado would soon take the lives of 24 people, including 10 children, and destroy 1,200 homes."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Safe Room Provides Double Coverage in El Reno
"A clear sky was hard to come by in El Reno, Oklahoma, on May 31, 2013. It was foggy and raining when Kelly Gatz, her husband, and four dogs had to take refuge, not once, but twice, in their safe room, when a violent EF-5 tornado left a devastating path of destruction. The record-breaking tornado damaged the Gatz's home but the family was not injured."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Elevating a Slab-On-Grade Home
"The Scarcliff family enjoyed living on the river. What they disliked was the fact that each time Fish River overtopped its banks, floodwaters would show its presence in their home.
Floodwaters made repeat visits to their slab-on-grade home until the Scarcliffs sought mitigation measures to hold it at bay. [...] The Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offered a solution to the Scarcliffs' flood issue - elevating their flood-prone home.
The elevation project was funded by FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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Home Up High to Keep the Contents Dry
"Hurricane Isabel is known to many North Carolinians, especially the residents on the state's east coast, as the storm that flooded and severely damaged their homes in 2003. Several days after floodwaters receded, Pamlico County residents, Flossie Gibbs and her daughter Janie Parker, were able to return to their home in Mesic and discover that 3 feet of water had nearly destroyed all of their belongings. The home would have to be extensively repaired and elevated to prevent damage from future storms before they could move back in. Since her community had a new ordinance that required her home to be elevated, Gibbs feared being unable to afford the additional cost. Immediately turning to her insurance agent for help, she learned that she could file a claim for assistance under her flood insurance policy to have her repetitively flooded home elevated. Elevation, one of the most common retrofitting methods, is a mitigation technique that prevents or reduces flooding to a structure from future disasters. It is an alternative to demolishing a structure or relocating it to higher ground. Elevation is sometimes required for structures that are situated in low-lying areas to remain on the land after they have been flooded."
Lessons Learned Information Sharing (LLIS)
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: FMI Branch Launches New State NFIP Staff Orientation Workshop: 'Communicate for Compliance'
"When Georgia became the first of several FEMA Region IV states poised to lose key National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) staff within a few months, the Floodplain Management and Insurance Branch (FMI) rallied with a pilot orientation workshop to facilitate the transition. As a Contracted Technical Partner, the Floodplain Management Section of the Georgia Watershed Protection Branch provides critical technical assistance to both participating and potential member communities. The staff also offers guidance in floodplain management, oversees the Risk MAP (Mapping, Assessment, and Planning) program for Georgia, supervises the CAP-SSSE (Community Assistance Program - State Support Services Element) grants, conducts community assistance visits and compliance issues for the NFIP, and reviews flood damage prevention ordinances."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Elevation Saves Business and Provides Refuge
"Thirteen years ago, Ravit Michener purchased an elevated building in Estes Park to house her new spa and retreat business.
Due to the elevation, her business was not only saved from the recent September flooding, but the structure provided refuge for the family as well.
The destructive Colorado storms and flooding affected approximately 2,000 square miles of the state. Nine individuals died and there was nearly $2 billion in property damage."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Risk MAP Success Story: Fairbanks, Alaska: A Benchmark for Cooperation
"Because accurate structure elevation information is critical in the establishment of flood insurance policy rates, the availability of reliable and geographically convenient survey monuments and benchmarks is an important element of a community's flood mitigation and prevention infrastructure.
A review of the city of Fairbanks' benchmarks determined that in at least one area at risk, the cost required to calculate adequate elevation data was prohibitively high for many homeowners, thus preventing many property owners from obtaining information needed for a Letter of Map Amendment or other required documentation for flood insurance purposes."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Cedar Heights Saved During Waldo Canyon Fire
"In June 2012, the Waldo Canyon Fire burned more than 18,000 acres and destroyed 347 homes. Currently, it is the most costly fire in Colorado history, with estimated insured losses of $454 million. While the effects were devastating to the Colorado Springs community as a whole, the losses avoided in some areas are a testament that wildfire mitigation works. Thanks in part to mitigation efforts in an adjacent park, the Cedar Heights neighborhood (valued at more than $75M) was saved, allowing 250 families to return to their homes and their lives after the fire. […] Colorado Springs has long recognized the risk of wildfires to its residents. 'In the 1990s, we got a new Fire Chief, Manual Navarro,' says Christina Randall, Colorado Springs Wildfire Mitigation Program Administrator. 'Chief Navarro was a veteran of deadly wildfires in Oakland, California and immediately recognized our risk here. He told us that residents should never be able to tell us that they didn't know about their wildfire risk. This charge became the cornerstone of our education and outreach program.' More than 28,800 acres are in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI), which includes twenty-four percent of the city's population. In 2000, the Colorado Springs Fire Department hired a wildfire risk manager and began conducting risk assessments on more than 36,000 properties in the WUI. The city developed a wildfire hazard rating system that identifies low, moderate, high, very high, or extreme ratings for each resident at the lot level."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: City of Arvada Attributes Successful Mitigation to Cooperative Efforts
"Arvada City Officials have been working together on mitigation projects that have paid off for the community. 'It is really the work of all these folks - our engineers, city planner, city managers, public works director, stormwater manager, and parks and recreation director, working together on a common goal - to protect lives and property,' said Patrick Douherty, city engineer. 'We have also collaborated with other agencies and neighboring cities.' Dating back to the early 1970's, Arvada was one of the first cities in the United States to begin flood flow attenuation and to manage development in the floodplain. Projects included small channelization, bridge replacements, large storm sewers, and regional detention. Funding for these projects came out of the city's General Fund-Capital Improvement Projects. In 2000, a stormwater utility was funded. Through the stormwater utility, the city has been able to fund more mitigation projects. 'We certainly have significant projects that are the showcase, but it is numerous activities (what people would call mundane or ordinary) - year after year upkeep, collaboration, replacements, improvements, and modifications - taken in its totality, that make mitigation work,' Douherty said. 'As a group, we take on the responsibility of assuring that our projects work effectively.' As of 2013, Arvada has spent more than $35 million (funding from local sources) on various projects throughout the city. Projects have been as small as putting in a more efficient inlet to major channelization projects. Small projects to eliminate localized flooding have cost the city $4.2 million."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Combating Streambank Erosion in Fountain Creek
"Embankment erosion of Fountain Creek was threatening the roadway in Chinook, an area in the city of Pueblo. 'When this creek floods, basically this whole area is inundated with water,' said Earl Wilkinson, director of Public Works. 'Approximately 928 square miles of the drainage district drains down to Pueblo,' according to Daryl Wood, stormwater coordinator for Pueblo County. The erosion of stream banks is a natural process that occurs in lakes, streams, and rivers, and although it can be rapid, more often it involves the gradual removal of sediments from the shoreline. Erosion is caused by a number of factors, including storms, wave action, rain, ice, winds, runoff, and the lack of trees and other vegetation. In the spring of 1999, rain fell most of the day over Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs, Pueblo, and the surrounding areas. The rain intensified that evening and continued to come down heavily until the afternoon of April 30. Many areas received as many as eight inches in 40 hours, with some receiving more than 13 inches in 48 hours. The heavy rain in the Arkansas River basin led to widespread river flooding along Fountain Creek in El Paso and Pueblo Counties. 'We saw significant erosion in Fountain Creek after the 1999 flood, especially in the area of Creek Side at Velmount,' said Wood. 'We had to act fast and also consider cost. We determined that using hardpoints was the way to go.' Hardpoints are an erosion-control technique consisting of stone fills spaced along an eroding bank line."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: California Uses Hazus Multi-Hazard (Hazus-MH) to Reassess Safety of Hospitals
"Hazus-MH [multi-hazard] is playing a central role in the vulnerability analysis of over 1,300 hospitals that were built in California before 1973. The findings of this analysis have significant cost implications for the state. Following the 1994 Northridge California earthquake that damaged several hospitals, the state passed Senate Bill 1953 that requires all existing hospitals be seismically evaluated and retrofitted, if needed. Hospitals most likely to collapse in an earthquake, which fall under Structural Performance Category (SPC) 1, are required to be seismically retrofitted, replaced or removed from acute care service by January 1, 2008 or 2013, if granted an extension. Other hospitals that are less likely to collapse (SPC 3-5) have until 2030 to be seismically upgraded. A significant percentage of hospitals surveyed in California are SPC-1 facilities, constructed between 1950 and 1975. The methodology used for the seismic evaluations is NEHRP [National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program] Handbook for the Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings (FEMA 178). Since the publication of FEMA 178 in 1992, significant progress has been made in understanding the seismic performance of buildings, especially in performance based design. Hazus-MH has contributed in a major way to our ability to assess performance of buildings in earthquakes. In November, 2007, the California Building Standards Commission approved the use of the Hazus-MH Advanced Engineering Building Module (AEBM) to re-evaluate hospitals in California. The Commission's action amends the rule for implementing SB 1953."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: CAP-SSSE Funding Methodology: How a New Approach Produced Better Results
"The Community Assistance Program, State Support Services Element (CAP-SSSE) Cooperative Agreement, is a funding mechanism that supports States' floodplain management efforts and flood reduction measures through local communities' participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Administered by the Floodplain Management and Insurance (FMI) Branches of each one of the ten FEMA Regional Offices, CAP-SSSE currently disperses an annual total amount of $10.4 million nationally. Some of the CAP-SSSE fundable activities conducted by the State partners are Community Assistance Visits (CAVs), Community Assistance Contacts (CACs), floodplain management ordinance reviews, training, and the provision of technical assistance. Prior to the application process in fiscal year 2011, FEMA Region IV's FMI Branch identified a need to establish a more equitable, transparent funding process for State partners in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee to apply for CAP-SSSE funding. This need was identified due to previous negotiated funding levels that were not always commensurate to the floodplain management activities conducted. Beginning with fiscal year 2011 funding, nine core activities were identified and assigned negotiated work hours based on what would take to complete each activity (i.e.; 180 work hours for completion of a CAV). Those core activities are: enrollment of NFIP non-participating communities, CAVs, CACs-visits, CACs-phone, ordinance adoption associated with remapping, floodplain management courses, training and education, general technical assistance, and professional development."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Repetitive Flood Claims Program Benefits City and Homeowners
"Cañon City officials completed an acquisition project after being motivated by a home that was subject to frequent flooding.
The 2011 acquisition was funded by FEMA's repetitive flood claims program.
Property acquisition can be a cost-effective and long-term solution for community floodplain managers and owners of flood-prone properties. The house that previously stood on the now empty lot was subjected to flooding not long after it was built. For decades, flooding of the Cañon City home continued after almost every rain storm."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Computerized Warning System Alerts Pueblo Residents
"The county of Pueblo is located at the confluence of the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek, 112 miles south of the Colorado state capital in Denver.
Historically, flooding of most Pueblo County communities has been relatively infrequent. However, when flooding events occurred in August and September 2013, county and city officials were prepared to alert residents.
In the event of a flood, city and county officials consider it essential that they have the capability to warn residents. Warning residents in Pueblo County of potential flooding does not create a challenge because of the automatic emergency notification system they invested in, which has been installed by the county."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
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FEMA Mitigation Best Practices: Gallatin County, Montana Completes HAZUS-Multi Hazard Earthquake Study
"Gallatin County, Montana recently completed a comprehensive, two-year study of the potential impacts of two scenario earthquakes: a maximum probable event and a maximum credible event. The study results are being used by several local agencies and organizations.
The Gallatin County Department of Emergency Services is incorporating regional loss estimates into planning for earthquake mitigation, response and recovery."
United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency
