Tioga County, New York
Tioga County Multi Hazard Mitigation Plan
The mission of the Tioga County Multi-Jurisdictional 2006 All-Hazard Mitigation Plan is to identify and reduce, through cost-effective and sustainable mitigation efforts, our vulnerability to natural and man-made hazards. In doing so, Tioga County seeks to create an informed and prepared community while protecting its health, safety, property, economy, quality of life, and environment.
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Tioga County residents are well aware of their vulnerability to natural hazards such as flooding, severe storms, and severe winter storms. Hazard mitigation planning is a step toward addressing these hazards and the effects on County businesses and population and reducing future damages due to hazard events. Residents and businesses benefit from comprehensive hazard mitigation planning by using a sustained pro-active approach to reduce or eliminate long term risk to people and property from hazards. By utilizing mitigation planning, communities assess risks and identify actions to reduce their vulnerability and increase sustainability. A Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) is a living document that communities use to reduce their vulnerability to hazards. HMPs form the foundation for a community's long-term strategy to reduce disaster losses and break the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. They create a framework for risk-based decision making to reduce damages to lives, property, and the economy from future disasters. Further, communities must have an approved HMP to apply for or receive pre-disaster mitigation grant funding. Grant funding is available for projects to mitigate risk to both public and private property. For example projects such as home elevations and local flood mitigation projects are eligible for funding. Ultimately, these actions reduce vulnerability, and communities are able to recover more quickly from disasters. Tioga County’s original HMP was approved by FEMA in June 2006, and may be seen at the 2006 Plan link. By regulation, local HMPs must be formally updated every five years. The update process is an opportunity for Tioga County and its municipalities to re-examine its vulnerability to natural hazards, evaluate progress on the mitigation strategies identified in the original plan, and add new mitigation actions/projects/initiatives so that the County can continue to lower its overall natural hazard risk. Tioga County’s Soil and Water District is managing this plan update effort, supported by the Tioga County HMP Steering Committee and Tetra Tech, Inc. (Morris Plains, NJ). This plan update effort is expected to continue through Spring 2012. The County and all municipalities (the "Planning Partnership") have committed to participating in this update process, and so continue to be eligible for pre-disaster mitigation grant funding for eligible projects. Hazard Mitigation is any action taken to reduce the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters (natural, technological and man-made) (www.fema.gov). It is often considered the first of the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. Mitigation measures fall into the following six general categories, and address both public and private property:
The hazard mitigation plan assists Tioga County with the following:
Proactive mitigation leads to sustainable, more cost-effective projects. By contrast, reactive mitigation tends to lead to the "quick-fix" alternatives; it simply costs too much to address the effects of disasters only after they happen. A surprising amount of damage can be prevented if the County anticipates where and how disasters will occur, and take steps to mitigate those damages.
Announcements for public outreach activities held during the plan update process shall be made here once they are scheduled.
As the title suggests, the role of the Steering Committee is to provide guidance and direction to the planning effort to ensure the resulting document will be embraced both politically and by the constituency within the planning area. The Steering Committee will provide guidance and leadership, oversee the planning process, and act as the point of contact for all participating communities and the various interest groups in the planning area. The makeup of this committee was selected to provide a cross section of views to enhance the planning effort and to help build support for hazard mitigation. The Steering Committee that has been selected for this process is as follows:
Agendas and Minutes for Steering Committee meetings may be reviewed here:
Agencies / Organizations
Mitigation Planning
Flood Insurance and Grant Programs
Regulatory
Hazard Information
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