The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The final draft of Blaine County's 2018 Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan (MHMP) was presented at the courthouse to about 30 local government officeholders, representative from state and federal agencies and interested citizens. The 150-page draft is the result of nearly a year's work to assess potential hazards in the county, list the possible economic and human losses should certain calamities occur and provide ways to reduce the severity of these calamities. Having a plan helps ensure vulnerabilities in the county are identified and the appropriate mitigation projects are a part of the MHMP.

The MHMP, per Haley Velk who is the head of Blaine County's Disaster and Emergency Services, "Is a requirement by FEMA for a local government to be able to apply for certain types of non-emergency grants that can be used for mitigation." Velk explained the first plan for the county was completed in 2006 and is updated, per FEMA, every five years. She added that the funding to hire a specialist to help prepare the plan was funded by a direct FEMA grant and local matching in kind time spent by the local committee that did the prioritizing and selection of hazards to be included in the study.

The process of completing the MHMP

Velk said the county has been fortunate that the Daphne Digrindakis helped prepare the first MHMP and has worked on each of the subsequent updates. Digrindakis is a Planner with Tetra Tech, the successful bidder to do the plan update. She works with the county's Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) to identify and prioritize the types of catastrophes that are most likely to occur in Blaine County, Chinook and Harlem. Fort Belknap has its own mitigation plan.

Using a standardized process of hazard and vulnerability assessment the LEPC members identified the following hazards to be included and reviewed in the plan. The hazards listed in order of their likelihood of happening are: wildfire; flooding; severe weather; transportation accidents; hazardous material incidents; drought; dam failure and terrorism, violence, civil unrest and cyber security. Velk explained, "There are many other possible hazards, like volcanic ash, hurricanes, vector borne diseases (West Niles), but our committee

used the formulas to identify the likelihood of certain disasters and how they would affect areas of our county." Digrindakis has access to many data banks that allowed her to calculate an economic value on the loss of property and the number of people affected if certain hazards occurred.

What's next?

Velk said anyone can suggest changes they would like to see made in the final draft. Readers wishing to study the latest Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan can find a copy of the draft at: http://www.countypdm.com /Select Blaine County /Password: Chinook. Or, there is a hard copy of the plan for review in the Disaster and Emergency Services office in the courthouse. Velk added, "We would like for everyone to read and review the plan and make suggestions for changes if necessary." There are directions on the website for making comments about changes.

After August 10 Daphne Digrindakis will gather the comments made during the review period and update the final plan. The revised plan must then be approved by the county commissioners and the city councils in both Harlem and Chinook. It will then be submitted to Montana DES and to FEMA for final approval. An approved plan allows local governments to apply for federal funding for mitigation projects. Velk said the competition for mitigation projects is very intense and projects compete among all projects in the country. She said, "Harlem and Blaine County have both applied for funds to do mitigation projects but neither has been successful so far."

For specific questions you can call Haley Velk with Blaine County DES, at 406-357-3310 or Daphne Digrindakis with Tetra Tech at 406-475-2648.