MONMOUTH COUNTY – The draft Monmouth County Multi-jurisdictional Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan is being released by the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office.
The plan is a documented evaluation of the hazards to which a community is susceptible and the extent to which these events may occur.
The plan includes a hazard mitigation strategy, which is designed to reduce and eliminate risks to people and property from natural hazard events. In addition, it identifies an area’s vulnerability to the effects of natural hazards and the goals, objectives and actions required to minimize future loss.
The need for mitigation strategies has become more essential due to the increase in natural hazard occurrences.
“The revision of this plan is highly important as we approach the two-year anniversary of Super Storm Sandy,” said Sheriff Shaun Golden, who oversees the Office of Emergency Management. “Mitigation is preparation and planning now to reduce the loss of life and property later, by lessening the impacts of future disasters.”
The current Hazard Mitigation Plan was adopted by Monmouth County and the municipalities in 2009.
Under FEMA guidelines it is required to be updated every five years.
Monmouth County has taken the lead on the overall planning process to guide the county’s 53 municipalities in an effort to meet the FEMA requirements and, therefore, be able to officially adopt the plan.
Beginning today, the draft plan will be posted to www.monmouthsheriff.org and can be found under the OEM tab for a 28-day review and public comment period. Public comments can be sent to oemmitigation@mcsonj.org.
As part of the process, the draft plan will be submitted to New Jersey OEM and FEMA for review.
Once applicable comments are compiled into the plan and the draft is approved by those two agencies, each municipality will be required to formally adopt the plan. They will then continue to be eligible for pre- and post-disaster mitigation grant funding.
