Hamilton County cities evaluate their disaster plans
Every few years, the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security updates the Multijurisdictional Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan, a preparedness guideline of targeted objectives to address natural hazards before any potential emergencies in Hamilton County.
The plan outlines steps cities should prioritize to ensure citizens are safe during events like major flooding or power outages.
The local office began updating the plan in 2018 to submit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The plan analyzes what hazards different areas of Hamilton County are most susceptible to, things like floods, winter storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, drought, wildfires, and geological hazards like sinkholes and landslides.
Since 2000, local flooding has caused an annual average of $1.3 million in property damage, according to a Times Free Press article about the plan. Mudslides and sinkholes earlier this year have also caused significant damage throughout the county.
Collegedale City Manager Ted Rogers said his city actively participates in the creation of every new plan. The Collegedale Board of Commissioners passed the related ordinance at its meeting on July 15.
Collegedale is at a high risk of flooding, tornadoes and droughts, according to the plan.
The plan includes six objectives for the small city, including reducing flooding on Apison Pike and at the Wolftever Creek/Tallant Road bridge, removing tree debris, reducing sewer overflows and street flooding, and ensuring power outages don’t occur. To maintain these goals, the city has agreed to keep debris to a minimum in waterways, continue raising State Route 317 to reduce
flooding, and install a new generator for city business in the next three years, according to the plan.
Rogers said the plan is different for every city, but all sign on to help keep the county safe.
The city of East Ridge voted on its portion of the plan on Thursday. It calls for the city to determine new strategies to reduce flooding and rainfall runoff into the Spring Creek and South and West Chickamauga Creek flood zones, and evaluate infrastructure and find alternatives to ongoing flooding issues. The city must also update the current stormwater infrastructure to minimize erosion and educate homeowners on potential hazards in the city.
Each city involved must approve, pass and set goals to hit all of the objectives. The other cities included in the plan are Lookout Mountain, Red Bank, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy and Walden. The plan can be found at hamiltonready.org.
Contact Sabrina Bodon at sbodon@timesfreepress.com.