Allegany County, MD
Hazard Mitigation Plan Update
WHAT IS HAZARD MITIGATION?
"Hazard mitigation" is any sustainable action that reduces or eliminates long-term risk to people and property from future disasters. Mitigation planning breaks the cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. Hazard mitigation includes long-term solutions that reduce the impact of disasters in the future.
THE HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN
The purpose of the 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan is to prevent or reduce loss of life and injury as well as limit damage costs from various hazards through the development of mitigation methods which lessen or eliminate future damage. This is accomplished by reviewing and assessing Allegany County's vulnerabilities to natural hazards. The result of the assessment will be short-term and long-term strategies that address hazards identified in the plan. These strategies are an effort to prevent future damage to and loss of life of residents in Allegany County and its municipalities.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requires hazard mitigation plans to be updated every five years. The 2024 plan is an update to the previous 2018 Hazard Mitigation Plan. The Allegany County Department of Emergency Services is the lead agency for this plan update.
FLOOD MITIGATION EFFORTS
Following the creation of the Governor’s Flood Mitigation Task Force for Western Maryland, FEMA selected Allegany County as one of seven communities nationwide to begin a pilot project to work towards the goal of becoming a disaster resistant community. In 1998, as part of the initiative entitled “PROJECT IMPACT,” Allegany County set up a number of workgroups to develop a program to meet its goal of disaster resistance. The workgroups developed objectives, projects and partnerships to aid them in meeting their ultimate goal – acquisition projects. For additional information about PROJECT IMPACT, click here.
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While the PROJECT IMPACT initiative is no longer funded by FEMA, Allegany County has continued to carry-out flood mitigation projects within its jurisdiction. More information about the County's ongoing flood mitigation efforts, including identified repetitive loss properties and residential acquisition, is available in Chapter 4: Flood of the Hazard Mitigation Plan (page 4-19).
Chapter 17: Mitigation Strategies includes multiple action items with the goal of addressing flooding.
