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Public Safety vs. 100-Year Floodplain

Public Safety vs. 100-Year Floodplain. Doug Bellomo ASFPM Annual Meeting May 21, 2008. Potential CFM Exam Question 1 . Are you safe if you live in the 100-year floodplain?. Potential CFM Exam Question 2 . Are you safe if you live outside the 100-year floodplain?. Some Hints…… .

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Public Safety vs. 100-Year Floodplain

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  1. Public Safety vs. 100-Year Floodplain Doug Bellomo ASFPM Annual Meeting May 21, 2008

  2. Potential CFM Exam Question 1 Are you safe if you live in the 100-year floodplain?

  3. Potential CFM ExamQuestion 2 Are you safe if you live outside the 100-year floodplain?

  4. Some Hints…… The answers to both questions is the same. The floodplain status has little to do with it.

  5. It’s a Trick Question • The answer is “you are safe” if: • You know your risks. • Avoid them to the maximum extent possible. • Mitigate against what you can’t avoid. • Insure against the rest.

  6. It’s a Trick Question • The answer is “you are not safe” if you: • Don’t listen to the science. • Close your eyes to the risks. • Don’t effectively communicate the threats. • Hope nothing will happen. • View insurance as a burden rather than a benefit.

  7. It is Possible To Be Safe in A Floodplain • There are communities that not only live with their floodplains, but thrive with them. • Common traits: • They take responsibility and are accountable for their actions. • They are respectfulof their neighbors. • They take a long view focused on sustainability. • They do not: • Externalize their public safety responsibilities. • Turn a deaf ear or blind eye to their neighbors. • Gamble their future for short term gain.

  8. Healthy Communities • Find a way to balance what some consider competing priorities: • Economic Vitality • Public Safety • Environmental Stewardship • They have: • A vision of their future • A plan on how to get there, and • They systematically identify and mitigate the risks and remove barriers in the way of achieving that vision

  9. Mitigation Is All Around Us Potential Hazard IDENTIFY PREDICT DECIDE EXECUTE • Initial exposure at 16 years old. • The Virginia DMV. • Google “IPDE” • A four step process outlined by American Safety Council.

  10. The Four Step “IPDE” Process • Step 1: Identify “A driver must practice scanning the driving environment for the primary purpose of IDENTIFYING real and potential hazards.” • Step 2: Predict “What might happen should you encounter a real or potential hazard.” • Step 3: Decide “What driver action you will implement (accelerate, steer, decelerate, or any combination of these vehicle control maneuvers) to avoid a crash with a real (or potential) hazard.” • Step 4: Execute “Carry out your decided-upon action.” SOUND FAMILIAR?

  11. Map Risk Data 1 4 2 Identify Risk Mitigate Risk Assess Risk Assess Present & Future Risks Risk MAP: REDUCE LOSS OF LIFE & PROPERTY AT LOCAL LEVELS Transfer Risk Goal – Measure Quantifiable Risk Reduction Reduce Risk 3 Communicate Risk Plan for Risk Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (Risk MAP) Lifecycle

  12. Alas It’s Not So Simple • Communities are not cars traveling down a road. • But if they were: • They would have more than one person at the wheel. • Multiple people would be working the clutch, gas and brake. • There would be at least one, perhaps two, navigating the course. • The car would occasionally stop to let some out and others in. • There would be kids screaming in the back seat.

  13. The Trick To Safety • Bring order to the car. • Get everyone working together. • Make sure the navigator has a good map and knows where they are going (a plan). • Stop at McDonalds to keep the kids happy and quiet.

  14. Risk MAP • Risk MAP aims to bring order to the car. • Lays out a cyclical process that focuses mostly on the “Identify,” but also a bit on the “Assess/Predict,” and the “Decide/Plan/Communicate.” • This gives you the time and information you need to: • Convince your companies, states, or communities that mitigation pays • Focus on taking the actions necessary to reduce risk

  15. Safety and the 1% Standard • There is no silver bullet, no levee, dam or other engineering wonder that will make a community “safe” enough they can ignore flood threats. • The 1% standard is not a “safety” standard – it’s a minimum requirement to be eligible for federal flood insurance. • Following the minimum standards will make you safer than not doing these things, but it won’t necessarily make you safe. • Real improvements to safety come from taking responsibility and employing a thoughtful honest process routinely over the long term. • Good luck on the exam!

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