LONGVIEW, Texas — Gregg County is requesting the community's onion on updates to their hazard mitigation plan.
Officials in Gregg County released the draft for public review Tuesday, which can be found here. The draft, developed by Austin-based company H2O Partners, Inc. in connection with Gregg County, details the county's plan to identify hazardous activities through a risk assessment conducted by the county. The hazard classification gives participating jurisdictions power to prioritize actions to mitigate hazardous activates that pose risk to lives and property within Gregg County.
The specific goals of the plan update, as described by the Gregg County Hazard Mitigation Action Plan Update, are to:
- Provide a comprehensive update to the 2018 HMAP.
- Minimize disruption to participating jurisdictions within Gregg County following a disaster.
- Streamline disaster recovery by articulating actions to be taken before a disaster strikes to reduce or eliminate future damage.
- Demonstrate a firm local commitment to hazard mitigation principles.
- Serve as a basis for future funding that may become available through grants and technical assistance programs offered by the state or federal government.
- Enable participating jurisdictions within Gregg County to take advantage of rapidly developing mitigation grant opportunities as they arise.
- Ensure that participating jurisdictions within Gregg County maintain eligibility for the full range of future Federal disaster relief.
The draft does not have exact dates for the implementation of these measures, but states that both the executive planning team and advisory planning team will discuss a timeframe for how and when to handle the implementation of each hazard mitigation action.
"Please take some time to review the document and share your thoughts, suggestions, and any additional concerns you may have regarding hazard mitigation in Gregg County," a spokesperson for the Gregg County Sheriff's Office said. "Your input will help us strengthen our plan to better protect our community."
Feedback can be provided by emailing emergencymanagement@co.gregg.tx.us.