ALLEGANY COUNTY MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL

HAZARD MITIGATION GRANT PROGRAM

 

Allegany County is in the process of creating a Hazard Mitigation Plan that includes 39 Towns and Villages and 5 non-profit organizations. This webpage will provide a general understanding of the process and how Allegany County is responding to this Federal requirement.

 

 

What is the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program?

 

The Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) was created in November 1988, by Section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. The HMGP assists States and Local communities in implementing long-term hazard mitigation measures following a major disaster declaration. In December 1993, the President signed the Hazard Mitigation and Relocation Assistance Act which amends Section 404 to increase Federal funding of HMGP projects to 75 percent of the project’s total eligible costs. For disasters declared before June 10, 1993, the Federal share for the program is 50 percent. The Stafford Act requires a minimum compliance by participants.

 

 

How is Allegany County complying with FEMA requirements?

 

Hazard Identification:

For this process, Allegany County was divided into four separate regions: Northern, Southern, Eastern, and Western. Officials from each region met as a group and with the guidance of the State Emergency Management Office, Disaster Preparedness and the Allegany County Office of Emergency Management, evaluated and identified the hazards that affect their region. This was accomplished with HAZNY, an automated interactive spreadsheet that asks specific questions on 35 potential hazards that could affect the community and records and evaluates the responses to these questions. HAZNY also includes historical and expert data on selected hazards. HAZNY is designed specifically for groups, rather than individual use. The program contains “Ground Rules” that maintain the integrity of the program and provide a substantial foundation to compare results amongst different municipalities. There were five factors that were considered for each hazard: Scope, Frequency, Impact, Onset, and Duration.

Definition of Factors:

• Scope – This factor looks at two aspects of scope: (1) What area or areas in your jurisdiction could be impacted by the hazard and (2) What are the chances of the hazard triggering another hazard, causing a cascade effect?
• Frequency – A prediction of how often a hazard will occur in the future.
• Impact – There are three aspects of Impact: (1) How will the hazard affect the people of the community in relation to serious injuries or death and (2) what are the potential physical or economic damage to private property including structures, homes and businesses, belongings, and income from the hazard and (3) what is the probable structural damage to the infrastructure that serves the jurisdiction, including key government buildings, roads, bridges, and sewer, water and power lines.
• Onset: This is simply an inquiry into warning time.  How much time is there between the initial recognition of an approaching hazard and when the hazard begins to impact the community?
• Duration: Two questions are asked, (1) How long does the hazard remain active and (2) how long do emergency operations continue? 

 

Below are the Hazards identified through the HAZNY process by region.

 

Hazard Analysis Results for Allegany County New York

 

 

 

Risk Assessment and Loss Estimation:

Once the Hazards have been identified through the HAZNY process, each jurisdiction must produce a base map with the Hazard Areas clearly identified. A general inventory of assets (an estimate or count of the total number of buildings, their value, and the population) in each community is required. The initial general inventory is broken down further by finding the number of structures, their value, and the population in the hazard risk areas previously identified. Structures within the Hazard areas are classified by type, structures recognized as critical facilities are listed for further analysis. Critical facilities are defined as being of importance to the community, as well as, vulnerable populations, economic elements, areas with special considerations, areas of historic or cultural value, and other important facilities within the Hazard area. Finally, each critical facility must be given a replacement value, content value, function use value, displacement cost and occupancy of each building. With this information we can determine the total loss to structure, content, and the structure use and function loss and ultimately an estimate of the total loss for a particular hazard event. Currently, Allegany County is at this step in the Planning process.

 

Beyond the risk/loss estimation process jurisdictions are required to describe in some detail, their current Mitigation Policies, Programs, and Capabilities.  Each region must reconvene in an effort to establish goals, objectives, and actions to mitigate each identified Hazard. Finally, a description of how the plan will be implemented, monitored, evaluated, and updated must be provided and a completed draft will be available for public review and comment. Each jurisdiction will ultimately be required to formally adopt the plan to be eligible for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funds.

 

 

List of Participating Jurisdictions:

 

North – Town of Grove, Town of Allen, Town of Birdsall, Town of Burns, Town of West Almond, Village of Canaseraga.

South – Town of Amity, Town of Ward, Town of Scio, Town of Wellsville, Town of Alma, Town Genesee, Town of Bolivar, Town of Willing, Village of Belmont, Village of Bolivar, Village of Wellsville.

East – Town of Alfred, Town of Almond, Town of Andover, Town of Angelica, Town of Independence, Village of Andover, Village of Almond, Village of Angelica.

West – Town of Centerville, Town of Hume, Town of Rushford, Town of Caneadea, Town of New Hudson, Town of Belfast, Town of Cuba, Town of Friendship, Town of Clarksville, Town of Wirt, Village of Cuba, Village of Richburg, Houghton College, Cuba Lake District, Rushford Lake District.

Alfred – Alfred University, Alfred State College, Village of Alfred.