Montgomery County, PA

Montgomery County Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan

The federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires all municipalities in the nation to have a plan for mitigating the future natural hazards  to which they are vulnerable.  Adoption of the plan by local governments (all townships and boroughs) is crucial as it will be a requirement for all future federal disaster funds.  To assist our municipalities in complying with this requirement, we have prepared the Montgomery County Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan, which was adopted by the Montgomery County Commissioners on March 29, 2007. Currently more than half of the municipalities in the county have also adopted the plan.

The plan is based upon an analysis of the county’s overall vulnerability to various types of natural hazards.  Flooding was identified as the most significant natural threat to the county as a whole. Other types of natural hazards that the county or portions of it may be vulnerable to include drought, winter storms, severe wind, subsidence, and radon.  The plan examines measures to reduce these hazards, particularly flooding.  These include public education, warning systems, drainage system maintenance, land use controls, stormwater management, acquisition and relocation, retrofitting, flood plain management, flood control structures, and natural resource protection.

The plan recognizes that the avoidance of disaster is a shared responsibility of various levels of local government, businesses, and residents.  Implementation of the plan will require a variety of actions to lessen the impact of natural disasters.  Accomplishing the selected measures in the plan will require cooperation at all levels of government and will take several years to complete.  For information on the plan, contact Michael Stokes at 610.278.3729 or mstokes@montcopa.org. 

·  Plan

·  Plan Appendices

·  Workshops

·  PowerPoint Presentation

·  External Links