Tri-County Hazard Mitigation Plan
project description
Project Purpose
North-central Nebraska is at risk to a wide-range of natural and human-caused hazards like tornadoes, floods, winter storms, dam failure, extreme heat, chemical releases, agricultural disease, and more. In response to these risks, the Region 11 Emergency Management Agency, in collaboration with JEO Consulting Group, Inc. is seeking to evaluate how these hazardous events impact Antelope, Holt, and Know Counties (called the Tri-County Planning Area) to increase community resilience. Additionally, FEMA requires that an HMP be updated and approved on a five-year cycle. To these ends, Tri-County will be updating their 2017 Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP) over the next year with the goal of reducing risk to hazards before they happen to communities in the Tri-County area.
A hazard mitigation plan is a community-guided document that identifies vulnerability to hazards and mitigation projects to reduce or eliminate this vulnerability. Having an approved and updated plan enables your community to be stronger and more resilient by:
- Reducing your community’s risk and impacts from disasters,
- Gaining eligibility for pre- and post-disaster mitigation grants, and
- Building partnerships across the Tri-County area
The planning area for the Tri-County HMP includes entirety of Antelope, Holt, and Knox Counties. Members of the community, school districts, fire districts, irrigation districts, and other jurisdictions within the three counties are invited to participate in this process by attending meetings and providing information for the plan.
This hazard mitigation plan update is funded through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. The cost is shared 75% through federal funding and 25% through a local match.
For more information about the Tri-County area, please visit the Region 11 Emergency Management Agency website, the Antelope County website, the Holt County website, and the Knox County website.
2023 Hazard Mitigation Plan Status
The draft 2023 Tri-County Hazard Mitigation Plan was available for Public Review from Wednesday, April 12 to Wednesday, May 10, 2023. This period provided the last opportunity for local planning teams and interested parties to read, review, and provide any changes or corrections to JEO prior to plan submission to NEMA and FEMA. If a participating entity did not provide any changes, it was assumed that each jurisdiction reviewed the plan and approved of it as written.
The 2023 Tri-County Hazard Mitigation Plan has been approved by NEMA and FEMA! The final approved plan is available for download below. This plan will expire in October 2028.
Antelope County Profiles – includes profiles for Antelope County, Village of Brunswick, Village of Clearwater, City of Elgin, City of Neligh, Village of Oakdale, Village of Orchard, and Village of Royal.
Holt County Profiles – includes profiles for City of Atkinson, Village of Ewing, Village of Inman, City of O’Neill, Village of Page, and Village of Stuart.
Knox County Profiles – includes profiles for Knox County, City of Bloomfield, Village of Center, City of Creighton, City of Crofton, Village of Niobrara, Village of Verdel, and Village of Verdigre.
Special District Profiles – includes profiles for Brunswick Volunteer Fire Department, Chambers Public Schools, Creighton Volunteer Fire Department, Crofton Community Schools, Elgin Public Schools, Elgin Volunteer Fire Department, Neligh-Oakdale Public Schools, Niobrara Public Schools, Orchard Volunteer Fire Department, Santee Community Schools, Summerland Public Schools, Verdigre Public Schools, Verdigre Rural Fire Department, and Wausa Public Schools.
Planning Process
This planning process included several rounds of public meetings for participants and interested stakeholders to learn about the plan and provide input.
Kick Off Meeting
The project Kick-off Meeting was held Wednesday, July 27, 2022 at 1:00pm. Representatives from participating jurisdictions were encouraged to attend virtually. This meeting discussed the scope of the project, roles and responsibilities of the plan participants, general project schedule, and preliminary data for plan development. A copy of the meeting minutes with a full description of information discussed as well as a recording of the kick-off meeting are available below.
Kick-off Meeting Presentation Slides
Round 1 Meetings
Round 1 meetings were held in September and October of 2022 with additional one-on-one meetings held as appropriate for participating jurisdictions across the Tri-County area. The purpose of Round 1 meetings was to review and update key demographic information; evaluate and identify key critical facilities or lifelines; and discuss local capabilities and vulnerabilities. Information from Round 1 Meetings is described below.
Round 2 Meetings
Round 2 meetings were held in January 2023. The key purpose of Round 2 meetings was to identify hazards of top concern; update and identify mitigation strategies to address those hazards of top concern; and to evaluate local planning mechanisms which integrate or support hazard mitigation concepts.
Additional Resources
General
Drought Monitor
National Weather Service
High Plains Regional Climate Center
FEMA VII: Mitigation
Nebraska Silver Jackets
Emergency Management
Region 11
Knox County
Holt County
