The Orange County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 26 voted to adopt the INOHA (Alamance, Durham, Orange, Person counties) regional Hazard Mitigation Plan update, formalizing mitigation goals and actions that guide local disaster risk reduction and make jurisdictions eligible for certain FEMA mitigation grants and flood-insurance community rating considerations.

What the plan does: County staff and contractors described the plan as a four-phase, multi-step update that identifies hazards, assesses risk, develops mitigation actions and establishes an adoption and implementation path. The plan ranks hazards by priority risk index (PRI) and lists excessive heat, flooding, drought, hurricanes/tropical storms, critical infrastructure failure and severe winter storms among the highest-priority hazards for Orange County.

Key mitigation goals and actions: The plan emphasizes integrating hazard mitigation into land-use policy and development decisions; increasing public awareness and warning capacity; improving administrative and technical capacity for mitigation projects; and advancing infrastructure improvements that reduce risk. Specific actions include acquiring or elevating flood-prone properties, implementing drainage improvement projects, heat-mapping to identify vulnerable neighborhoods, improving interoperable communications and updating the county's comprehensive emergency operations plan.

Why it matters: Adoption makes the county eligible to apply for FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding and supports the county's participation in the National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System, which can reduce flood-insurance premiums for residents. Staff emphasized that adoption also helps coordinate regional recovery and preparedness and ties to Orange County's strategic plan and climate-action goals.

Board discussion and public input: Commissioners asked about after-action reviews of Tropical Storm Chantal and about misinformation and communications in disasters. Emergency management staff said the county has begun an after-action review, will integrate lessons into the emergency operations plan update, and worked with regional partners during Chantal on immediate response. Sarah (Emergency Management) and Hannah Tuckman (emergency management planner) described steps underway to improve situational awareness and communications.

Formal action: The board moved and approved a resolution to adopt the INOHA regional Hazard Mitigation Plan and authorized the chair to sign; the vote was taken with the board in favor and the resolution carried.

Ending note: Commissioners and staff said the plan is a basis for future risk-reduction projects and funding applications and for improving communications and response coordination across jurisdictions.