Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

 

Help us build a safer Huntington Beach! Our city is currently preparing an update to the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (LHMP), which will provide information about our community’s vulnerabilities to disasters and how we can be better prepared.

 

Click this link to review the draft Huntington Beach Local Hazard Mitigation Plan.  The plan will be available for review from August 15, 2022 until August 31, 2022.  To provide feedback, e-mail comments to [email protected] 

The City of Huntington Beach is preparing to update its Local Hazard Mitigation Plan, or LHMP. This plan will help create a safer community for residents, businesses, and visitors. The LHMP allows public safety officials and city staff, elected officials, and members of the public to understand the threats from natural and human-caused hazards in our community. The plan will also recommend specific actions to proactively decrease these threats before disasters occur.

Why have an LHMP?

An LHMP will let Huntington Beach better plan for future emergencies. Usually, after a disaster occurs, communities take steps to recover from the emergency and rebuild. An LHMP is a way for the City to better prepare in advance of these disasters, so when they do occur, less damage occurs and recovery is easier. Our community can use LHMP strategies to reduce instances of property damage, injury, and loss of life from disasters. Besides protecting public health and safety, this approach can save money. Studies estimate that every dollar spent on mitigation saves an average of four dollars on response and recovery costs. An LHMP can also help strengthen the mission of public safety officers, such as police and fire department staff, providing them with clear roles and responsibilities to build a safer community.

Besides helping to protect Huntington Beach, our LHMP will make the City eligible for grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) that can be used to further improve safety and preparedness in the community. Having an adopted LHMP can also make Huntington Beach eligible to receive more financial assistance from the State when disasters do occur.

What is in our LHMP?

The City of Huntington Beach LHMP includes four main sections:

  1. A summary of the natural and human-caused hazards that pose a risk to our community. This will include descriptions of past disaster events and the chances of these disasters occurring in the future.
  2. An assessment of the threat to Huntington Beach, which will describe how our community is vulnerable to future disasters. The plan will look at the threat to important buildings and infrastructure, such as police and fire stations, hospitals, roads, and utility lines. It will also look at the threat to community members, particularly vulnerable populations.
  3. A hazard mitigation strategy, which will lay out specific policy recommendations for Huntington Beach to carry out over the next five years. These recommendations will help reduce the threat that our community faces from hazard events.
  4. A section on maintaining the plan, which will help ensure that our LHMP is kept up-to-date. This will make it easier for us to continue to proactively protect ourselves, and will also keep the City eligible for additional funding.

What hazards will our LHMP help protect against?

The City plans to include the following natural hazards in our LHMP:

Our LHMP will also look at how climate change may affect these hazards and may include other hazards that pose a threat to our community.

How is our LHMP being prepared?

The City has assembled a Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee (HMPC), which includes representatives from City Departments and supported by key stakeholders, and technical consultants. Together, these participants form the project team responsible for guiding the overall development of our LHMP.

When will our LHMP be done?

The project team plans to release a first draft of the Huntington Beach LHMP for public review in Spring/Summer 2022. After members of the public provide comments and feedback, the City will revise the plan and send it to the California Office of Emergency Services and FEMA for review and approval. Once approved by these agencies, the Huntington Beach City Council will adopt the final LHMP.  We hope to have the plan ready for adoption in Fall 2022, but it may be later depending on how long state and federal review takes.

How can I get involved?

You can get involved in preparing our LHMP update in different ways.

What can I do now to be better prepared for disasters?


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Contact Information

City of Huntington Beach
Fire Department
2000 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA
Phone: (714) 536-5411
Fax: (714) 374-1551
Email:

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