ENVIRONMENT

LEHIGH VALLEY HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN

Tragedies in the past three years in Houston, Puerto Rico, Northern California and most recently Florida, have reminded us that disaster can strike at any time, sometimes with little or no warning. The Lehigh Valley is vulnerable to a variety of natural hazards such as flooding, tornadoes and sinkholes, and a growing number of man-made hazards that include hazardous materials, traffic accidents and building collapse. Hazard Mitigation planning can lessen the impact of such events by using a proactive approach of assessing the risk and then identifying actions to create safe, more disaster-resilient communities.

Below is the Lehigh Valley Hazard Mitigation Plan, approved in October 2018 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  It’s the result of a yearlong partnership between the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, Lehigh County, Northampton County, all 62 municipalities, stakeholders and residents from across the region to update the regional plan last adopted in 2013.  The 2018 plan includes nearly 1,200 mitigation strategies designed to help protect every municipality in the Lehigh Valley from future disasters. FEMA approval and municipal adoption makes those communities eligible for federal funding to help pay for mitigation projects.

read the 2018 plan

  RESOURCES + REFERENCES

   - Lehigh Valley Business Column - Planning for disaster now is vital for businesses, everyone (lvb.com, April 23, 2018)

   - LVPC Newsletter - LVPC Preparing the Lehigh Valley for Disasters (September 2017)

   - Lehigh Valley Business Article - Can Catastrophic Flooding Occur Here? (lvb.com, October 16, 2017)

   - National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Community Rating System (CRS) Coordinator's Manual

 

   PLAN PARTNERS

 

Lehigh Valley Planning Commission

961 Marcon Boulevard - Suite 310

Allentown, PA 18109

Phone: (610) 264-4544

Toll Free: (888) 627-8808