Jasper County residents encouraged to give input on hazard mitigation plan

May 21—Jasper County residents have 30 days to comment or ask questions about the updated hazard mitigation plan, which helps communities minimize the negative impacts of tornadoes, drought and flooding, as well as qualify for FEMA-approved assistance towards projects combating those types of hazards.

The draft version of the 267-page plan is currently available for viewing online by visiting www.talkto.ecicog.org/jasper-hazmit and clicking on the respective link. Another link on the same page redirects to a survey where residents can submit their comments or suggested revisions through June 11.

Hazard mitigation plans must be updated every five years. Jasper County Emergency Management worked with the East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG) to complete the updates. ECICOG collaborated with the county, cities and school districts to identify hazard risks and potential projects.

Officials and staff from the local governments and school districts met in August 2021 to set new hazard mitigation goals, which were used as a guide for decision making. This year, participants added "greater focus" to resiliency and education. According to the draft version of the 2022-2027 plan, the goals are to:

—Minimize injury and loss of life due to hazards.

—Minimize damage to property due to hazards.

—Build and maintain resilient infrastructure to minimize community, economic and environmental disruption due to hazards.

—Educate the public about hazards and resources available.

PROBABILITY OF HAZARDS OCCURRING

Large portions of the plan are dedicated to calculating the historical occurrences, probability and magnitude and severity of specific hazards. The plan also identifies which communities may be most affected by the hazards, as well as the expected warning times and the duration of these disasters or conditions.

For instance, the plan suggests the probability of any category of drought occurring in Jasper County is highly likely in any given year. Rural areas tend to experience the most negative impacts of drought. The agricultural sector of the economy would see an impact, too.

Long-term droughts could limit the amount of water available to residents, the plan states. In certain circumstances, it may be necessary to place restrictions on industries that use large amounts of water. In more extreme circumstances, it may be necessary to place restrictions on the amount of water residents use.

In Jasper County, the plan suggests droughts could severely damage up to 25 percent of property, primarily crops.

"While the overall impact on the county would be considered limited, the direct impacts on rural areas may be critical," the plan states. "If drought conditions were severe enough to significantly reduce available water supply, urban areas in Jasper County would be directly impacted."

Floods are likely to occur in Jasper County, too. Six flash flood events have been documented in Jasper County between 2000 and 2021. In that same time period, 26 recorded river flood events had occurred, as well. The floods did not cause death, but they accrued millions of dollars in property and crop damages.

Although the plan was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the document suggests the probability of another human disease event of such magnitude occurring in the near future is unlikely. The plan also hypothesizes COVID-19 will impact areas of the world cyclically like influenza moving forward.

Some hazards like sinkholes and earthquakes were included in the plan but classified as "excluded," since the likelihood of them happening in Iowa is extremely rare. For instance, the plan says the number of damaging earthquakes in Iowa is less than two in 10,000 years.

Other hazards highly likely to occur in Jasper County are as extreme heat, severe winter storms, thunderstorms and tornadoes. Several of these hazards have warning times, which the plan lays out. For instance, outdoor sirens are activated when windspeeds are predicted to exceed 72 mph.

"Weather information is provided on the radio, television, weather alert radios, subscription alert services through local emergency management agencies, social media and Wireless Emergency Alerts sent to cell phones and other devices connected to communication towers," the plan states.

Jasper County Emergency Management Agency uses the Alert Iowa system to send community and weather alerts through text message.

HAZARD PRIORITIES

ECICOG sent surveys to the communities of Jasper County asking people what they felt were the most important hazards to prepare for.

Results show tornadoes and windstorms were the No. 1 priority, followed by severe winter storms (2), infrastructure failure (3), pandemic human disease (4) and thunderstorm, hail and lightning (5). ECICOG noted Oakland Acres, Valeria, unincorporated Jasper County and some schools did not provide responses.

Those who took the survey were also asked if they had been severely impacted by a disaster. About 37 percent of respondents say they had been, most of which indicated they were negatively impacted by the August 2020 derecho. Few people said they had negatively impacted by the pandemic.

Included in the plan is a countywide hazard risk assessment. In it, animal, plant and crop disease, drought, extreme heat, human disease, severe winter storm, thunderstorm, lightning and hail, tornadoes and windstorms and infrastructure failure were identified as high priority.

Each community then has its own high priority hazards. In Baxter, the highest priority hazard to prepare for is thunderstorm, lightning and hail. Colfax ranked river floods and severe winter storms as its highest priorities; as did Kellogg and Mingo, which also included flash floods and tornadoes and windstorms.

Lambs Grove prioritized flash floods and severe winter storms; the same goes for Lynnville, which added tornadoes and windstorms, too. Monroe put flash floods, severe winter storms, tornadoes and windstorms and thunderstorms, lightning and hail at the top of its list prioritization.

Newton placed severe winter storms and tornadoes and windstorms as its first concerns; same with Oakland Acres, which added thunderstorms, lightning and hail. Meanwhile, Prairie City prioritized flash floods, river floods, severe winter storms, tornadoes and thunderstorms, lightning and hail.

Reasnor worried most about flash floods, river floods, and severe winter storms. Sully did not rank any hazards above high priority, but it did name tornadoes and windstorms and thunderstorms, lightning and hail as medium priorities. Valeria put tornadoes and windstorms as a high priority.

Please visit www.talkto.ecicog.org/jasper-hazmit to learn more about what is included in the plan, including progress updates, mitigation strategies and action plans.

If residents do not wish to take the survey but want to give input, they can submit comments, questions or their suggested revisions to Alicia Presto by email at alicia.presto@ecicog.org or by mail at ECICOG, 700 16th St. NE, Suite 301, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com