Last week’s paper included notice that the New River Valley Hazard Mitigation Plan 2025 has been approved by the Montgomery County Supervisors. This is good news, and very timely. Participants in this plan also include Floyd, Giles and Pulaski counties, Radford, Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Narrows, Pearisburg, Pembroke, Pulaski and Radford University. It is an impressively long plan – 494 pages! It is the product of collaboration among a variety of government agencies, demonstrating an ability to work together. This plan update comes at a particularly important time, as large-scale disasters are increasing while emergency support from the federal government appears to be decreasing.
The plan identified the highest level of risk in our region to be from severe winter weather, high winds and flooding. Of course, we recently experienced tremendous loss from flooding associated with Hurricane Helene, which cost Virginia over $2 billion in economic damage in addition to widespread power outages and large agricultural losses. These kinds of events are occurring with increasing frequency – so having one last year is not a guarantee that we won’t have another this year – or in the next few years. Cold winter weather may surprise many as a key concern, as our recent winters generally have been milder with less snow than they were a few decades ago. But – because of the increase in energy in the atmosphere, not at all unlikely would-be periods when the jet stream veers far to the south, bringing us frigid Arctic weather. We got a little bit of that early last January. And of course, high winds can occur in any season – perhaps it’s time to deal with that tree overhanging your roof?
As impressive as the plan is, reading it gave me little insight of how much of the plan will be implemented. Implementation requires money. Communities will have to decide for the various implementation strategies their relative importance versus other uses of local – and perhaps state – monies. The more we implement, the more we are likely to ultimately save from disasters. But of course, the more we implement, the more we divert dollars from other important uses (including keeping potential tax dollars in our pockets). Tough choices will need to be made.
On an individual basis, you can help protect your family from disasters fairly simply. Consider what particular hazards might most affect you – for example, are you in a flood plain? Keeping emergency supplies on hand (food, water, diapers, baby formula, medicines) may be particularly critical if your home is likely to become isolated (for example, if you have only a single road to your home through a low-lying area.) In the event that you need to evacuate, keeping plenty of gas in your car and knowing alternative evacuation routes are easy precautions. Evacuation from Texas and Louisiana during hurricane Rita in 2005 resulted in107 deaths, as many ill-prepared cars were caught in gridlock during a hot late summer day. You might consider where your family might gather, and an out-of-the area communications center (perhaps that favorite relative that you don’t see enough of), should your family be separated. We can hope that disasters will not hit our area again, but the likelihood of future events is steadily increasing.
