Muscogee County officials discuss Hazard Mitigation Plan
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — City leaders discussed the Columbus Consolidated Government’s Hazard Mitigation Plan on Wednesday. The plan will help reduce loss of life and property by minimizing the impact of natural or manmade disasters.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), mitigation plans must be updated every five years.
The city hired LUX Mitigation and Planning, a third party vendor, to create the updated plan.
Researchers looked into past hazards in Muscogee County that have led to federal disaster declarations. This included severe storms and tornados from the 1990s and the impact of COVID-19.
James Westbrook, of LUX Mitigation and Planning, describes the plan as twofold.
The first part is to identify the hazards that Columbus Consultative Government could potentially be impacted by. The second aspect of the plan is really to identify what we call mitigation strategies, which are things that we can do to lessen the impact of a disaster, to lessen the impact of the hazards or prevent the hazards completely.
James Westbrook, LUX Mitigation and Planning Corp.
In their research, representatives of LUX Mitigation and Planning found that lightning is considered the most likely hazard in Muscogee County, based upon the National Risk Index. As for the most potentially damaging hazard, Westbrook says hurricane-related tropical storms can have an estimated risk value of over $4 million annually.
LUX Mitigation and Planning are waiting for a hazardous report from the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA). Once received, the plan will go to FEMA for final approval and then the county can adopt the plan.
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