2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan Project

Description

  • The plan serves as the foundation for hazard mitigation activities and actions within Cass County.  Implementation of recommendations will reduce loss of life, destruction of property and economic losses due to natural and technological hazards.  The plan provides a path toward continuous, proactive reduction of vulnerability to hazards, which result in repetitive and oftentimes severe social, economic, and physical damage.  The ideal end state is full integration of hazard mitigation concepts into day-to-day governmental and business functions and management practices.
  • This plan employs a broad perspective in examination of multi-hazard mitigation activities and opportunities in Cass County. Emphasis is placed on hazards that have occurred over time and that have resulted in threats to the public health, safety, and welfare, as well as the social, economic, and physical fabric of the community.
  • The plan addresses such hazards as floods, tornadoes, windstorms, winter storms, structural fires, hazardous material incidents and secondary technological hazards.  Each hazard is analyzed from a historical perspective, evaluated for potential risk, and considered for possible mitigation action.
  • This Cass County Hazard Mitigation Plan covers: The County of Cass, the City of Dowagiac, the Villages of Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Marcellus, and Vandalia, the Townships of Calvin, Howard, Jefferson, LaGrange, Marcellus, Mason, Milton, Newberg, Ontwa, Penn, Pokagon, Porter, Silver Creek, Volinia, and Wayne.
  • Cass County’s Office of Emergency Management is committed to Hazard Mitigation Plan integration and   continues to work local officials and planners from Cass County, Townships, Villages, and the City of Dowagiac on the integrating of Cass County’s Hazard Mitigation Plan into other planning mechanisms, and urge planning officials to think more comprehensively about the challenges facing a community, how to address them with the resources available, and how to guide the public and its decision makers toward goals and objectives that are reasonably constructed to achieve the desired results.

Current Hazard Mitigation Plan

Project Status

Thursday, April 7th, 2022

LEPC meeting - Hazard Mitigation Plan 2018

Cass County EM spoke about the Cass County Hazard Mitigation Plan, revised 2019. Manny mentioned that the planning for the revision began in January 2016 and brought up options on when the committee should begin planning for the next revision which will be due in March 2024. A few options were discussed on whether we should begin planning this year, beginning of next, or if he should continue to gather more information to get a better idea of when to start the planning on the revision. It was decided to continue gathering information to make the best decision.

Thursday, January 5th, 2023

Local Planning Team - Hazard Mitigation Plan 2018

Cass County EM explained that the Hazard Mitigation Plan will expire on March 2024. After conducting some research, he found that the Grant Application process will take at least 9 months and hiring a company to update our plan, the company would need a year to a year and a half to complete the plan. This will most likely run past our expiration date. Manny will begin the Grant Application process; however, we will still need to update our own plan for 2024. We will need to decide if we are going to create a subcommittee and begin this process as quickly as possible.

Meeting March 2, 2023

The plan is currently being updated with a deadline of March 2024. The plan is approximately 167 pages with current updates up to page 49. The EM explained the different sections such as Population changes, Wetlands maps, Census 2020 data and updates needed throughout the plan. The EM stated that the 2016 Hazard Mitigation plan is posted on the Cass County Emergency Management webpage found on the Cass County website. There is also a timeline of all updates being made on the current plan – 2024. The EM will also begin work with IT and attempt to get the 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan on a share drive where all members can view and participate in the updates. The EM shared a couple pages from the Plan – Critical Assets and requests all members to review and submit any updates to him. 

Meeting May 4, 2023

The EM pulled up the Cass County Website and explained how to reach the Emergency Management page, and then the link to the Hazard Mitigation Plan 2018. The EM then explained what was on the page and how it tracks the updating process for the new 2024 plan. The EM stated that he may be reaching out to some people in the group if he comes across sections in the plan that pertain to them. He will only send those specific pages and request any updates or changes. 

Meeting July 6, 2023

The EM spoke on the latest updates to the Cass County Hazard Mitigation Plan. The plan is valid for 5 years and required to be updated and reviewed this year. The EM spoke on the current method of creating our High Hazard Vulnerability Assessment and other methods that may serve us better. The EM went over several slides showing what we currently have in the plan, what needs to be updated and options to replace old data. The EM then walked through the Emergency Management website explaining where to find our current plan and other information. 

Meeting September 7, 2023

Hazard Mitigation Plan Update:  A list was presented of the sections in the plan that have been updated since the last meeting. The section currently being updated is the State of Emergency Declarations, Federal and State.  

Plan Review and Approval

  • The 2024 Cass County Hazard Mitigation Plan was adopted by the county on November 7th, 2024.
  • The U.S. Department of Homeland Security - FEMA Region 5 reviewed and approved the plan on December 13th, 2024.