Background
The Cape May County Department of Engineering and Public Works and the Department of Emergency Management are leading the creation of a comprehensive hazards-mitigation plan for the County and its 16 municipalities.
The creation of this plan will allow the County and its participating municipalities to be eligible for future mitigation funding from FEMA. This is an opportunity for the County to create a detailed plan that will address a variety of potential hazards that could affect some or all of our citizens.
All-Hazards Mitigation Plan Mission Statement
The mission of the Cape May County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan is to identify and reduce, through cost-effective and sustainable mitigation efforts, the vulnerability to natural hazards in order to protect the health, safety, property, quality of life, environment, and economy within Cape May County.
The goal of the plan is to identify projects that can reduce damages
from future natural hazards. The plan will include a risk assessment
and a hazard-mitigation strategy. The primary hazards in Cape May County
include coastal storms, coastal erosion and flooding, but other potential
hazards to be analyzed include severe storms, severe winter storms and
wildfire.
The study will focus on existing and future buildings, infrastructure and critical facilities that might be impacted. Critical facilities include shelters and hospitals; infrastructure includes power-generation facilities, water utilities, roadways, railroads and communication systems.
A series of public meetings will be part of the plan development process, both to solicit public comment and to present the draft plan to residents and local officials.
Funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a contract has been awarded by the Board to Tetra Tech EM Inc. of Rockaway, New Jersey. The grant will cover an 18-month project to develop a multi-jurisdictional All-Hazards Mitigation Plan, prepared in accordance with state and federal standards and guidance.