Local mitigation strategy (LMS) - Volusia County Government

SECTION 8: MITIGATION STRATEGYof communities and businesses affected by disasters, and enhance community resiliency 1 . Many of thejurisdictions in Volusia County have completed mitigation projects that reduced vulnerability. Some ofthese examples are profiled below.Daytona BeachThe City of Daytona Beach City Hall is a critical facility that houses many of the City’s emergencyresponse personnel. It is a central point of information for its residents and a place where many criticaldecisions are made. The City received HMGP funds after the 2004 hurricanes and those grant fundswere used to install hurricane resistant impact glass through the entire facility. This critical facility won’tneed to be evacuated for minor hurricanes and the contents now have protection against wind events.The City used HMGP funds from the 2004 hurricanes to retrofit all the doors and windows at the PublicWorks complex which is also a critical facility. This facility was hardened and upgraded with impact glassand hurricane rated doors. This facility is the main location for the Public Works response personnelhandling road repairs, signs, vehicle maintenance, debris removal, garbage pick up, etc.EdgewaterThe City of Edgewater has demonstrated a proactive operation by embarking on mitigation projectsusing city and grant funds to prevent further damage or loss of public and private properties. The City purchased a repetitive loss home on West Pine Bluff, demolished it and constructed aretention pond to eliminate flooding in the neighborhood. City owned facilities were improved to be more storm resistant using city and grant funds. Stormwater pipe was lined in the Wildwood Subdivision to prevent the continual flooding usingcity funds. The Environmental Services Department Stormwater Division provides continual maintenanceto all canals, swales, and retention points to eliminate problems with the stormwater systemthroughout the city. Seagrass was planted along the riverbank at Kennedy Park to eliminate erosion of shoreline.South DaytonaAfter Tropical Strom Gordon, the City of South Daytona set an aggressive course to eliminate theflooding of homes. To achieve this, South Daytona increased stormwater utility fees to fund many of theneeded improvements to protect residents and their homes and made major changes to the buildingstandards. While the system is not perfect, the number of homes with storm water damage in the mostrecent storm dropped from 300 homes during Gordon to 16. This reflects an 80 percent reduction inhomes flooded.8.6 PLAN UPDATE REQUIREMENTBecause of FEMA requirements for plan updates the existing Mitigation Actions (as identified in the2005 plan) were reviewed by each agency responsible identified for implementing the action. For eachaction, an update on the implementation status (completed, deleted, or deferred) was provided andmilestones achieved or impediments to implementation of the actions were identified. These updates1 “Recommendations for an Effective National Mitigation Effort.” National Emergency Management Association (NEMA), 2009.Volusia County Multi-jurisdictional Local Mitigation StrategyFebruary 20108:13