Orange officials and volunteers have met with Mapping and Planning Solutions, a firm in Twin Mountain, to work on the required five-year update to the 2016 Orange Hazard Mitigation Plan. More meetings are being scheduled over the next few months to address flooding, hurricanes, drought, landslides, wildfires, and other natural or human-caused hazards.
The Hazard Mitigation Planning Team is currently being formed. Orange citizens and any interested stakeholders are invited to participate. The next meeting will be held Monday, May 10, 7:00-9:00 PM via Zoom. To be added to the invite, email Dorothy Heinrichs at nhdorothy@gmail.com. Additional meetings are scheduled for 7pm Mondays, June 14 and July 12.
The team will determine efforts to mitigate the effects, examine potential shelter sites, and decide on the need for generators at those sites. By examining critical infrastructure and key resources, along with past hazards, the team will establish priorities for future mitigation projects and steps that can be taken to increase public awareness of hazards in general.
The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires all municipalities to complete a local Hazard Mitigation Plan to qualify for FEMA funding after a natural disaster. The planning processes are made possible by grants from FEMA.
For more information on the hazard mitigation planning process, call June Garneau at Mapping and Planning Solutions, 603-991-9664.