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Cusseta‑Chattahoochee County adopts 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan to qualify for FEMA funding
Summary
The commission unanimously amended the agenda and approved the county's updated Hazard Mitigation Plan so the county can submit for GEMA/FEMA reimbursement; the plan identifies 13 completed strategies and 79 total mitigation actions, including NFIP compliance and outdoor warning siren studies.
The Cusseta‑Chattahoochee County Commission unanimously voted Aug. 5 to amend the meeting agenda and approve the county's updated Hazard Mitigation Plan so it can be submitted to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency for reimbursement.
County Manager Thomas Weaver told the board a county staff member had asked that the plan be added so the county could obtain GEMA approval; "we have been waiting a year for GEMA," Weaver said in the meeting minutes. Commissioner Timothy Biddle made the motion to add the plan to the agenda and subsequently moved to approve the plan; both votes passed unanimously.
The written resolution adopted by the board states the plan was prepared in accordance with FEMA requirements at 44 CFR 201.6 and will be updated every five years. The plan update committee included 21 local and agency representatives and identified nine natural hazards and four technological/manmade hazards for the county's risk assessment. The committee cataloged 79 mitigation strategies (70 for natural hazards and nine for technological hazards), including 27 new strategies since the 2018 plan and 13 items the county reports as completed.
Key mitigation items singled out in the plan include maintaining National Flood Insurance Program compliance, purchasing portable generators for the water utility, enhancing radio communications, acquiring NOAA weather radios for distribution to residents, and performing a study to identify locations for outdoor warning sirens.
The commission's adoption makes the plan an official working document the county can reference when applying for mitigation grants. The resolution notes the plan "is the first of many steps toward improving rational, long-range mitigation planning and budgeting for Cusseta‑Chattahoochee County."
