Hazard Mitigation Action Plan enters next phase

Nortex Regional Planning Commission held a public meeting on Tuesday to gather input for developing a regional Hazard Mitigation Action Plan (HMAP).

A HMAP is a plan to prepare and hopefully lessen the impact if a natural disaster were to hit Young County, a city or school district. The plan if approved would also allow for entities throughout the county to apply for grants for mitigation projects like safe rooms, storm shelters, drainage systems and more from the Texas Department of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to Nortex.

Nortex has brought in H2O Partners as consultants for the plan. Rhonda Murphy and Heather Ferrara  of the company led the presentation on Tuesday.

“This is a public meeting, part of the requirements of FEMA is that you include the public and you try to encourage public participation,” Murphy said. “You are trying to get feedback from the public, what they want to see represented in the plan, potential mitigation ideas and concerns.”

Murphy said these entities should go through the planning process to analyze risks, know what their greatest risk are and identify projects which can be implemented to reduce risk.

For more information see the Saturday, Jan. 26 edition of The Graham Leader.