City planning hazard mitigation
By Barbara Arntsen
Published in News on March 4, 2004 2:00 PM
Though it's unlikely Goldsboro will be hit by a tidal wave or buried by a landslide, the city must still assess the likelihood of these natural disasters if it wants federal relief money.
City Council members approved Monday an updated hazard mitigation plan that would address natural disasters, as required by the federal government.
In 2001 the city began receiving money from the state and the federal governments to help with Hurricane Floyd damages. One of the requirements to receive the funding was that the city outline natural hazards that could affect Goldsboro and prepare a plan to deal with those hazards. The plan was first adopted by the council in November 2001.
Since then the federal government has come up with some new standards. Three months ago the council asked W.K. Dickson & Company to prepare the needed revisions.
"They also recreated the maps and showed where hurricanes had hit land here from 1954 to 1999," said City Manager Richard Slozak. "Without these revisions, we wouldn't be able to qualify for FEMA money."
The plan will need to be updated every five years or after a major storm event.
"After a storm we'll have to update it to assess how the plan worked," Slozak said. "But we should be able to do future updates in-house, by the staff."