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Emergency management warns of saturated soils, warns mitigation funding is less certain ahead of potential flooding
Summary
The county emergency manager briefed commissioners on high soil saturation and flood risk, LEPC purchases, sandbag inventory and concerns about reduced federal mitigation funding availability for future projects.
Andrew, the county emergency management coordinator, told the Codington County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 23 that persistent wet conditions this year have left soils highly saturated and raised concerns about next spring's flood risk.
Andrew said county and local partners have been meeting on pre-disaster mitigation planning, and he described coordination with towns such as Kranzburg about community storm shelters and contractor availability. He said Codington County maintains about 88,000 sandbags in storage and that the LEPC purchased hazmat spill kits for the county highway shop and satellite stations as this year's LEPC grant project.
At a recent regional SDEMA conference that Andrew and a colleague, Sherry, attended, he said federal mitigation funding appeared more constrained than in prior years. He said Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funding is no longer as predictably available for projects and that future mitigation work will require stronger project readiness and justification if funding opportunities arise.
Andrew recommended continued coordination among county and city officials, including a planned meeting with the county and the city manager to establish unified-command expectations for flood response; commissioners asked to be included in that discussion. He noted that individual communities already have mitigation projects listed in the county's pre-disaster mitigation plan, such as storm-shelter options in Henry and Kranzburg and water-management projects.
Commissioners asked about specific supplies and readiness: Andrew confirmed the sandbag inventory and said staff are watching for assets such as mechanical sandbagging stations to add to county capability.
The emergency manager also said that mitigation grants now require more rigorous project packages, so local officials should identify “solid mitigation projects” in advance to be competitive for funds.
No formal action was taken on the emergency-management update; the item was presented as the monthly report and followed by questions from commissioners.
