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1. What is the Hazard Mitigation Plan Update?

Hazard Mitigation planning is a proactive effort to identify actions that can be taken to reduce the dangers to life and property from natural hazard events.  Kankakee County adopted a hazard mitigation plan in 2006 and FEMA regulations require that the plan be updated every five years.

2. Why is this plan important?

The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires that a community have an approved hazard mitigation plan in order to qualify for federal funding from the following grant programs:

• Pre-Disaster Mitigation Competitive (PDM-C)
• Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP)
• Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA)

3. What goes into a hazard mitigation plan?

A hazard mitigation plan assesses the community's risks and vulnerabilities to natural hazard events such as flooding, hurricanes, winter storms, and earthquakes. Kankakee County uses statewide data and information directly from the community to make this assessment.

The plan includes a set of goals related to the overall goal of hazard mitigation planning, an assessment of existing mitigation measures, and a set of new mitigation measures that will serve to advance the plan goals. The plan update will also look at implementation progress that has been made on mitigation measures from the previous plan.

4. How can the public become involved in the Hazard Mitigation planning process?

Public participation is very important to the hazard mitigation planning process. FEMA requires a minimum of two public meetings. Comments may be submitted by email and draft versions of the plan will be posted here for review and comment. A comment may be emailed to the Planning Department. A citizen survey has also been developed to gather opinions from the citizens of Kankakee County. View the Citizen Survey.

The planning staff is also gathering information from municipalities and other government agencies. A survey has been developed to gather this information. The information is needed before the June 21st meeting and preferrable before June 17th. Your cooperation is appreciated. View the Public Services Survey.