All Hazard Mitigation Plan

Public Input Wanted as County Updates Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan

Swift County Emergency Management is working with the Upper Minnesota Valley Regional Development Commission to update the county’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (MHMP). The plan assesses the natural hazards that pose risk to the county, such as tornadoes, thunderstorms, winter storms, wildfire, flooding, and extreme temperatures and identifies ways to minimize the damage of future events. As the county works to update the plan, it wants to hear from the public.

The Swift County MHMP is a multi-jurisdictional plan that covers Swift County, including the cities of Appleton, Benson, Clontarf, Danvers, DeGraff, Holloway, Kerkhoven, and Murdock. The Swift County MHMP also incorporates the concerns and needs of townships, school districts, and other stakeholders participating in the plan. The plan will be updated by a planning team made up of representatives from county departments, local municipalities, school districts and other key stakeholders.

“Hazard mitigation planning is a central part of our emergency management program,” said Derek Bendel, County Emergency Management Director. “Understanding the natural hazards that can cause serious impact to our communities and taking action to reduce or eliminate the impact of future disasters makes us more resilient. Hazard mitigation helps us to break the cycle of damage and repair caused by things like flooding, ice storms, and severe wind events that can damage property, stress economies, and threaten life safety in our county.”

Examples of hazard mitigation include actions include improvement of roads and culverts that experience repetitive flooding; construction of safe rooms at public parks, mobile home parks or schools to protect lives in the event of tornados or severe wind events; burying powerlines that may fail due to heavy snow, ice or wind storms; ensuring timely emergency communication to the public through warning sirens and mass notification systems, and conducting public awareness and education campaigns to help people to be prepared to take safe action before, during, or following a hazard event. Some mitigation activities may be eligible for future FEMA Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant funding.

Public input is an essential part of the plan update. As part of the planning process, Swift County is seeking feedback from residents and businesses from across the county to incorporate into the plan:

• What are the natural hazards you feel pose the greatest risk to your community?  
• Have you experienced a previous disaster event?
• What concerns do you have, and what sorts of mitigation actions or projects do you feel would help to reduce the damages of potential future events for your personal property, your community, or the county as a whole?

Comments, concerns, or questions regarding natural disasters and potential mitigation actions to be included into the plan update process should be submitted to Swift County Emergency Management (see contact information below). Public comments may also be submitted on the Swift County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page where this news release will also be posted.

There will be additional opportunities for public feedback throughout the planning process. A draft of the plan will be posted on the county website for public review prior to submission of the plan to the State of Minnesota. Future news releases will be shared with the media to notify the public of these opportunities. The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 (DMA 2000) requires counties to update their plan every five years to maintain eligibility for FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grant programs.

Contact:

Swift County Emergency Management

Derek Bendel, Director

301 14th Street North

P.O. Box 207

Benson, MN 56215

(320) 843-3133 / derek.bendel@swiftmn.us