Lehigh Valley Hazard Mitigation plan offers 1,161 ways to handle a disaster

Under federal law, the Lehigh Valley’s hazard mitigation plan for Lehigh and Northampton counties and municipalities has to be updated every five years.

For the previous plan, only 38 municipalities cooperated, Northampton County executive Lamont McClure said on Monday.

“This year, they all cooperated,” he said. “This is a great day for us.”

Officials from both counties on Monday were celebrating the finalization and adoption of the 2018 Lehigh Valley Hazard Mitigation.

The news conference capped 20 months of work, starting with a kick-off in October 2017, to PEMA reviewing it in August 2018, to FEMA approving it in October 2018, and now all 62 municipalities adopting it via resolution.

In 2000, the federal Disaster Mitigation Act created requirements linking mitigation grant assistance to entities coordinating local mitigation plans and implementation.

The Lehigh Valley’s plan include 1,161 points of action “to meet – hopefully – every natural and man-made disaster that can occur in Lehigh or Northampton County,” said Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong.

“This takes an unbelievable amount of cooperation and work ethic,” he added. The increase in participating municipalities, “is the fact that we all want to be prepared for when these things can happen."

The planners previously identified 25 hazards likely to befall the region, and the likelihood of them occurring. You can see the list here -- the issues range from landfills and wildfires to drug overdoses and floods.

New hazards this time include invasive species, such as the Spotted Lanternfly, Gypsy Moth and Emerald Ash Borer; pandemic and infectious diseases, including influenza and zika; and drug overdose crises, including heroin, opioids and fentanyl.

Municipalities not part of the plan would not be eligible to get hazard mitigation grant funding from PEMA or FEMA, McClure said. Disaster relief is separate from hazard mitigation funding, said Todd Weaver, Northampton County’s director of Emergency Management Services

Scott Lindenmuth, Lehigh County’s EMS director, said the overall plan puts information in place so the counties can act as liaisons for funding and reimbursement.

“Participation is the key to this plan,” he said.

Creating the plan has a few goals, including minimizing risks to human life, promoting hazard avoidance and public awareness, and reducing damages and loss, Weaver said.

Tanya Hook, community outreach coordinator and the hazard mitigation lead for Northampton County, said there have been a number of different projects that were funded in both counties, including a generator program and stream stabilization program. These came from $1 million in pre-disaster mitigation funds.

Geoffrey Reese, the director of environmental planning with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, said one of the most important goals was getting all 62 municipalities involved and participating in the planning process.

“This whole process is driven by data,” he said. “The plan is only as good as the information they (the municipalities) provide.”

You can find the entire Lehigh Valley Hazard Mitigation plan on the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s website here. An easy-to-navigate menu by municipality can be found here.

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