Columbus’ new emergency management plan includes climate change. Here’s what that means.
Every five years the city must update its hazardous mitigation plan. New categories and threats were recently added. The Columbus-Muscogee County Hazard Mitigation Plan, the soon-to-be-complete 2024 plan, includes climate change considerations, landslides, extreme temperatures (hot and cold), and social vulnerability. James Westbrook, vice president of Lux Mitigation and Planning, updated the plan with 14 working groups, including the Muscogoee County School District, American Red Cross and Columbus Consolidated Government, to identify 10 potential hazards. The plan allows Emergency Management Director Chance Corbett to apply for grants to save lives. The National Risk Index used to determine risk potential, with lightning the highest risk, followed by hurricanes causing the highest annual loss with over $4 million in risk value. In April 2023, FEMA required all local plan updates to consider climate change.
Published : a month ago by Kala Hunter in Environment
The guiding light for emergency management and homeland security officials to do their job, reduce natural threats and protect people and properties is the Columbus-Muscogee County Hazard Mitigation Plan.
And for the first time, climate change is part of that plan: The soon-to-be-complete 2024 plan added climate change considerations, landslides, extreme temperatures (hot and cold), and social vulnerability.
James Westbrook, the vice president of Lux Mitigation and Planning worked closely with 14 working groups or committee members, such as the Muscogoee County School District, American Red Cross and Columbus Consolidated Government, to update the plan. They met twice over two long workshop days in September to give valuable input about what they deemed as hazardous and risky to the area. This was open to the public as well.
“The committee and individuals in the community have a good grasp of what the hazards are that could impact their area,” Westbrook said. “We looked back to the time frame from 1973 through today–a 50-year time frame. From federal disaster declarations to severe storms and tornadoes in the ‘90s all the way up to COVID-19.”
The 10 natural hazards that the group identified are:
Of those, landslides and extreme temperatures are new to the list of potential hazards.
The plan, required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, allows Emergency Management Director Chance Corbett to apply for grants to pay for tools and equipment to save lives.
“We reference items in our plan when applying for grant money to FEMA,” Corbett said.
The last plan (2017-2022) was finalized in 2018 and is due for an update every five years per a federal regulation.
Westbrook, who also worked on the 2028 Hazardous Mitigation Plan for Columbus, used the National Risk Index for determining risk potential. The risk index determined lightning the highest risk, but hurricanes caused the highest annual loss with over $4 million in risk value.
Tornadoes were the second highest risk value at $2.5 million. These numbers come from reviewing past disasters within the risk index tool. The risk index calculates the risk value by taking the value of buildings in a jurisdiction to the frequency of the hazard multiplied by the historic loss ratio.
What the plan says about climate change
In April 2023, FEMA required all local plan updates to consider climate change.
“Most of the data is inconclusive with climate change–like tornadoes and severe weather,”
The climate consideration sections use phrases like “could potentially have ... ,” or “it is not clear how climate change could ... ”
In the report, the tornado section for “climate consideration” reads: “How climate change impacts tornadoes in Columbus-Muscogee County in the future has yet to be determined. It is possible that tornadoes could increase, decrease, or remain the same in frequency and/or increase, decrease, or remain the same in severity.”
In contrast, the tropical cyclone hazard – which includes hurricanes – was more conclusive in its climate change consideration section: “Climate change could, potentially, have a significant impact on the expected impacts of tropical cyclones on Columbus-Muscogee County. Tropical cyclones could become more frequent and/or more severe as a result of climate change.”
Two natural hazards not in the previous plan were extreme temperatures and landslides.
Landslides were added because the committee brought this up during the risk assessment meetings last fall. They had concerns because there was a landslide in 2014 at Rockdale Drive and another in 2015 near Bradley Circle. Though landslides are not highly susceptible per the latest US Geological Survey but are more likely from extreme rain events that are exacerbated by climate change.
Extreme heat and cold are the other two hazards new to the plan.
“Columbus-Muscogee County has been exposed to extreme cold/wind chill and excessive heat events on 51 occasions since 1996,” the plan said. Forty-one of these are extreme heat and 10 are from extreme cold. The plan cited the wind chill in Columbus on Dec. 24, which pushed the temperature down into the single digits.
Nearly 15% of Columbus is above the age of 65, and 20% is under the poverty line, leaving a large percentage of the population susceptible of heat-related illness, according to the report.
In addition to climate considerations, FEMA now requires local plans to look at social vulnerability as an aspect to hazard mitigation.
According to Westbrook, there are seven census tracts in Columbus that are socially vulnerable and increasingly susceptible to extreme temperatures, floods, thunderstorms and tornadoes.
“These areas immediately to the east of downtown Columbus, and they score higher on all four aspects of social vulnerability as identified by the CDC, which is socioeconomic status, household characteristics, racial and ethnic minority status, and housing type and transportation,” Westbrook said on a public meeting phone call on Wednesday.
The social vulnerability index score was very high, at 95 out of 100 for all of Columbus.
Corbett said he is well aware of the areas that are socially vulnerable.
“We keep this in mind when we do programs,” he said.
One of the current programs Corbett’s team is rolling out is distributing 1,500 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radios that activate anytime there is a local severe weather alert from the National Weather Service. The radios will go to public officials and public schools, and there will be some for the public.
“If your phone is on vibrate and you don’t get the alert, this will work,” Corbett said. “Our job is to increase communication and we take a holistic, layered approach.”
The smart radios came at a pricetag of $45,000 from a FEMA grant.
Westbrook, of Lux Mitigation, was hired by the city and fully paid through a FEMA grant as well.
After identifying risks, the other half of the plan is dedicated to mitigation strategies.
The committee identified 120 mitigation strategies and Westbrook broke these down into six objectives:
• None Reduce damage to property with preventative measures. Ex: Don’t build a house on a floodplain.
• None Property Protection Measures. Ex: Adding a safe room in a fire department or altering property to make it more resilient.
• None Use natural resource protection. Ex: Maintain maintenance of existing trees, and keep wetlands for flood plains.
• None Use structural mitigation. Ex: Install larger culverts (a large concrete structure to go under a roadway) to allow water to go under a road, or build a tornado shelter.
• None Increase the ability for Columbus government to respond. Ex: Via emergency services, adding sirens, hiring more employees,
• None Increase public education – buying inches in the L-E, creating flyers, using social media.
Wednesday was the last chance for the public to weigh in before Westbrook sends the draft plan to FEMA. He is waiting for the hazardous report from the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, which will add values missing in the current draft for things like flood damage cost.
It should turnaround within 45 days, and then it will be presented to Columbus City Council as the new hazardous mitigation plan for the city, signed by the city manager.
It can be amended at anytime should new technology or new plans need to be added, Corbett said.
Topics: Climate Change, ESG