This plan identifies actions to reduce or eliminate risk to human life and property from natural disasters.
Burlington County is completing a mandatory five-year update of its existing 2014 Hazard Mitigation Plan, using grant funding to complete the project.
The draft 2019 Hazard Mitigation Plan is now available for public review and comment on the official county website at the following link: http://www.co.burlington.nj.us/
This plan will identify key actions to be taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural disasters such as floods, severe storms and earthquakes.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency defines hazard mitigation as a “sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate long-term risk to people and their property from hazards.”
The update of this plan allows the county and participating municipalities to continue to be eligible for future pre-disaster mitigation funding from FEMA. Example of grant-eligible projects include home acquisitions or elevations — to either remove houses located in the floodplain to generate open space and increase flood storage or to raise their first floor above the FEMA base flood elevation — and local flood control measures.
The plan includes a risk assessment and an updated hazard-mitigation strategy. The hazards of concern include coastal erosion, drought, earthquake, flood, landslide, severe storm (including hurricanes), severe winter storm and wildfire.
The plan focuses on existing and future buildings, infrastructure and critical facilities that might be impacted. Ultimately, the mitigation projects identified and implemented will reduce vulnerability and enable communities to recover more quickly from disasters.
The county welcomes comments about the plan. Please submit all comments by visiting: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BCHMPUpdatePublicComment.
Comments will be accepted until April 11.
For additional information, contact emergency management at (609) 726–7144.
