Flood Plan Goals and Objectives Comparison

Thurston County Flood Plan (Final 2013)

Goals
1. Foster all sectors of the community working together to create a flood-hazard-resilient
community.

2. Ensure that local and state government entities have the capabilities to develop,
implement and maintain effective floodplain management programs in the Thurston
region.

3. Ensure that the communities in the Thurston region collectively maintain the capacity
to initiate and sustain emergency operations during and after a flood disaster.

4. Ensure that local government operations are not significantly disrupted by flood
hazard events.

5. Reduce the vulnerability to flood hazards in order to protect the life, health, safety
and welfare of the community’s residents and visitors.

6. Reduce the adverse impact on critical facilities and infrastructure from flood hazard
events within the Thurston region.

7. Increase public awareness of vulnerability to flood hazards and preparation for floods.

8. Maintain, enhance, and restore the natural environment’s capacity to deal with the
impacts of flood hazard events.

Objectives (in no order)

1. Eliminate or minimize disruption of local government operations caused by flood hazard
events.
2. Maintain a regionally coordinated warning and emergency response program that can
detect the flood threat and provide timely warning.
3. Utilizing best available data and science, continually improve understanding of the
location and potential impacts of flood hazards, the vulnerability of building types and
community development patterns, and the measures needed to protect life safety.
4. Continually provide state, county and local agencies with updated information about
flood hazards, vulnerabilities and mitigation initiatives.

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5. Establish partnerships among all levels of government and the business community to
improve and implement regionally consistent floodplain management practices such as
prevention, property protection, public education and awareness, natural resource
protection, emergency services, and capital improvements.
6. Develop or improve early warning emergency response systems and evacuation
procedures for flood hazard events.
7. Work to lower emergency service response times, including through improvement to
transportation facilities.
8. Consider the impacts of flood hazards in all planning processes that address current and
future land uses within the planning area.
9. Evaluate the risks to public safety and existing development e.g., critical facilities,
infrastructure, and structures in flood hazard areas.
10. Sponsor and support public outreach and education activities to improve awareness of
flood hazards, and recommend roles that property owners can take to prepare,
respond, recover and protect themselves from the impacts of these events.
11. Consider the impacts that future development will have on the environment’s capacity
to withstand the impacts of flood events and the opportunities this development may
create for environmental restoration.

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 Hazards Mitigation Plan for the Thurston Region, 3rd Edition adoption
pending
Goals and Objectives
1. Protect life
a. Design, build, operate, and maintain disaster resistant communication systems that
provide emergency notifications and instructions.
b. Decrease the impacts of hazards on at risk individuals or special needs populations 1.
c. Address emergency evacuation needs, prioritizing areas of the community where
mitigation strategies are ineffective or cost prohibitive.
d. Train and equip emergency service providers to effectively respond to hazard events.

2. Protect infrastructure
a. Maintain and upgrade roads, bridges, and other transportation infrastructure and
services to withstand the effects of hazards without prolonged operational disruptions.
b. Maintain and upgrade utility systems and services to withstand the effects of hazards.
c. Maintain or replace public buildings such as offices, schools, and other facilities to
withstand the effects of hazards.
d. Strengthen or relocate critical facilities or create protective spaces or infrastructure
around them so they are not significantly affected by the effects of hazards.

3. Protect property
a. Minimize the number of properties that are situated in hazard prone locations.
b. Protect and preserve vital records, data, information technology systems, and facility
contents.
c. Safeguard objects or places that have cultural or historical significance.

4. Protect the environment

a. When possible, use mitigation strategies that preserve ecological functions of natural
systems.
b. Consider mitigation actions that restore natural systems that provide protective
measures to surrounding properties.
c. Continue evaluating the effectiveness of Critical Areas Ordinances and development
regulations and revise as necessary to ensure development does not occur in areas
prone to hazards or changing environmental conditions that threaten public safety.

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Special Needs Populations: Populations whose members may have additional needs before, during, and after an
incident in functional areas, including but not limited to: maintaining independence, communication,
transportation, supervision, and medical care. Individuals in need of additional response assistance may include
those who have disabilities; who live in institutionalized settings; who are elderly; who are children; who are from
diverse cultures; who have limited English proficiency or are non-English speaking; or who are transportation
disadvantaged. Glossary, National Response Framework.

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 d. Support efforts to increase local jurisdictions’ abilities to appropriately respond to
hazardous material releases.

5. Sustain the economy

a. Develop and maintain efforts to prepare recovery plans.
b. Focus on mitigation strategies that protect medical treatment centers, employment
centers, commercial districts, and schools.
c. Coordinate with regional, state, and federal agencies to identify and prioritize continuity
of operations on lifeline transportation corridors and systems.
d. Strengthen public-private partnerships to reinforce or establish redundancy for critical
supply systems.
e. Develop and maintain continuity of operations plans for essential public safety services.

6. Build community support

a. Coordinate and provide leadership in the hazard mitigation planning process among
local, tribal, state, and federal government entities.
b. Engage residents, businesses, employers, medical centers, utility companies, subject
matter experts, community, and faith-based organizations as partners to help identify
opportunities to strengthen the region’s hazard resilience.
c. Update the region’s Hazards Mitigation Plan every five years, or sooner if necessary to
respond to emerging threats.

7. Expand understanding of hazards

a. Monitor and evaluate precipitation, groundwater, and stream flow levels, and survey
flood high water marks.
b. Partner with state and federal agencies, colleges, universities, and nongovernmental
organizations to participate in modeling programs to map high risk hazard areas.
c. Participate in regional or statewide disaster scenario exercises to assess mitigation,
preparedness, response, and recovery capacities, and apply lessons learned to
mitigation activities.
d. Develop a better understanding of the location and mitigation needs of vulnerable and
special needs populations within the communities.
e. Document, share, and act on lessons learned following disaster events.

8. Implement effective mitigation strategies

a. Focus mitigation efforts on the region’s greatest risks and vulnerabilities.
b. Integrate adopted mitigation strategies into other planning documents such as response
plans, comprehensive plans, strategic plans, Critical Areas Ordinances, Capital Facility
Plans, zoning code, and development regulations.
c. Apply for federal mitigation assistance grants and leverage other funding sources to
finance mitigation projects.

9. Increase public awareness

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a. Develop and sustain ongoing communication campaigns with residents, customers,
businesses, and other stakeholders about the known risks of hazard events and the
actions that community members or organizations can take to prevent or minimize
losses.
b. Conduct broad outreach activities to engage all sectors of the community in the hazards
mitigation planning process.

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Pierce County Rivers Flood Hazard Management Plan 2013
Goals
1. Reduce risks to life and property from river flooding and channel migration;

2. Identify and implement flood hazard management activities in a cost-effective and

environmentally-sensitive manner;

3. Support compatible human uses, economic activities, and improve habitat conditions
in flood-prone and channel migration areas; and

4. Develop a long-term and flexible funding strategy for river flood hazard management.

Objectives (in no order):

1. Evaluate the risks to public safety and existing development e.g., critical facilities,
infrastructure, and structures in flood-prone and channel migration hazard areas;
2. Examine alternatives to reduce risk to life and property, while reducing economic and
environmental impacts of flood hazard management actions and programs;
3. Regulate new development in flood-prone and channel migration hazard areas to
minimize risks to life, property, and habitat, and strive for consistency of regulations
among affected local governments;
4. Identify current and establish future “Levels of Service” for existing and new flood risk
reduction facilities;
5. Maintain, repair and modify necessary existing flood risk reduction facilities in a cost-
effective manner that makes the facilities less susceptible to future damage, reduces
impacts on aquatic and riparian habitat, and ensure consistency with public law PL 84-
99, or similar federal, tribal and state laws and programs;
6. Identify repetitive-loss properties and properties needed for future flood risk reduction
facilities;
7. Prioritize projects and programs based on the level of risk, benefit, cost effectiveness
over the life of the plan or facility, and adverse effects on habitat;
8. Provide for the participation of stakeholders in the assessment of acceptable risks,
evaluation and ranking of alternatives, natural resource management issues and
development of recommendations;
9. Coordinate among Pierce County departments, other agencies and governments cities,
tribes, adjacent counties to seek consistency in flood hazard management and flood
disaster response and recovery;

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10. Implement a County-wide public education and outreach program to improve flood
awareness that includes actions people can take to reduce risks e.g., flood insurance,
flood proofing;
11. Identify possible funding sources for implementing the recommended flood hazard
management activities;
12. Examine the connections between flood hazard management, river corridors, salmon
recovery, aquatic and riparian habitat, water quality, open space, public access and
agricultural resources to take advantage of efficiencies in addressing multiple objectives;
13. Remove or modify existing flood risk reduction facilities to protect, restore, or enhance
critical riparian or instream habitat that benefits threatened or endangered species;
14. Identify important riparian, aquatic, fish and wildlife habitat;
15. Protect and enhance natural systems that prevent flooding;
16. Adaptively manage implementation to learn from successes, develop long-term cost-
effective approaches and reduce the need for costly solutions;
17. Incorporate a science-based approach in developing and evaluating alternatives and to
monitor implementation;
18. Increase our understanding and incorporate information about climate change including
potential increases in rainfall, glacial retreat and changes in sediment transport into
flood hazard management decision-making; and
19. Cooperate with regional agencies in maintaining a network of accurate stream flow and
weather gauges, and water quality data.

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King County Flood Hazard Management Plan (2006, updated 2013)
Goals
1. To reduce the risks from flood and channel migration hazards.

2. To avoid or minimize the environmental impacts of flood hazard management.

3. To reduce the long-term costs of flood hazard management.

Objectives
1. Evaluate the risks to existing development in flood hazard areas and identify actions to
reduce risks to life and property.
2. Manage land uses in hazardous areas in order to prevent creation of new flood risks.
3. Identify and map flood and channel migration hazard areas and make maps readily available
to the public.
4. Maintain a regionally coordinated flood warning and emergency response program in a state
of readiness to be activated in the event of a flood.
5. Maintain, repair, or retrofit existing flood protection facilities in a manner that addresses
public safety, is cost-effective and makes the facilities less susceptible to future damage.
6. Acquire vulnerable properties, with a special emphasis on those that have been repeatedly
damaged by floods, when acquisition opportunities arise.
7. Remove or retrofit existing river facilities or modify maintenance practices to protect, restore
or enhance riparian habitat and to support recovery of species listed under the Endangered
Species Act.
8. Prioritize flood hazard management project and program recommendations based on level of
risk, cost-effectiveness over the long term, and consistency with regional natural resource
management protocols.
9. Sponsor and support public outreach and education activities to improve awareness of flood
hazards, and recommend actions that property owners can take to reduce risks to themselves
and to others.
10. Manage activities in rivers and floodplains in a manner compatible with multiple and
sometimes competing uses, including existing and proposed urban development within cities,
flood and channel migration risk reduction, agriculture, fish and wildlife habitat improvements,
open space, recreation, water supply and hydropower.
11. Promote the economic and ecological sustainability of river corridors.

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12. Coordinate across King County departments and with other jurisdictions to provide
consistency in flood hazard management and disaster response activities.
13. Identify appropriate funding sources for implementing the recommended flood hazard
management activities, and pursue opportunities to use these funds in a timely and efficient
manner.
14. Update the 2006 King County Flood Hazard Management Plan regularly and employ
adaptive management strategies within King County’s River and Floodplain Management
Program in order to take full advantage of scientific and technological advances, and to use the best
available floodplain management practices, principles and information.