Orange County Public Safety Personnel Assist with Update of Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan
By: April Clark, Emergency Planner, Orange County Fire & EMS
Orange County is currently working in partnership with the Rappahannock - Rapidan Regional Commission (RRRC) to update the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). The last HMP was created in 2018, and is available online for viewing. Plans are required by federal regulations to be updated every
five years. The purpose of the HMP is to identify hazards that threaten our community, determine the likely impacts of those hazards, and assess the vulnerability of our community to identified hazards. Additionally, the plan will examine the region ’ s current capacity to address those hazards, mitigate risk, and determine strategies that could lessen the impacts of hazards. Having a current HMP is an important emergency management best practice as it seeks to reduce the risks and impacts to our communities and ensures that we are eligible for numerous funding opportunities. In addition to the Hazard Mitigation Plan update, this effort will incorporate a new Regional Resilience Plan that will primarily address flooding, historically the region ’ s biggest hazard. The creation of a Regional Resilience Plan in tandem with the HMP update will provide for a unified effort and, once approved, will result in localities being eligible for expanded state grant funding to implement strategies and projects. We appreciate your attention to this important project – please look for additional information to be released in the near future providing opportunities for you to be involved in the update of the plan. For any questions or additional information, please contact the project team at planinfo@rrregion.org or visit www.rrregion.org/hmp.
Page 5 | January 2024
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