MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — McLennan County emergency management officials are asking residents to get involved in keeping the community safe as they update the county's hazard mitigation plan for the next five-year cycle.
The plan aims to prepare for natural disasters and events beyond human control.
Tim Jeske, the assistant coordinator at the Waco McLennan County Office of Emergency Management, is part of the team working on the county's updated hazard mitigation plan, which identifies potential threats and develops strategies to reduce their impact.
"We identify natural hazards and then actions that can be taken to mitigate the impact or reduce the impact from the hazard," Jeske said.
When asked about the natural hazards affecting McLennan County, Jeske outlined several concerns.
"We profile tornadoes, wildfires, flooding, earthquakes, will be one in this upcoming plan that we're working on now," Jeske said.
Earthquakes are a new addition to this year's plan. Although the risk for an earthquake in the area is extremely low, officials consider all possibilities.
"One of the earthquake mitigation strategies we might consider would be public education, as most people don't think about earthquakes here, maybe it's we do an education campaign that says, look, you know, it's a possibility, and if that were to happen," Jeske said.
The hazard mitigation plan follows a five-year cycle, with the last update completed in 2019. Jeske emphasized that they rely heavily on residents' feedback to develop the plan.
"From 2019 to now, you know, the hazards are generally the same, right? Um, we still have tornadoes, fires, floods, you know, things like that," Jeske said.
Following the major winter storm a couple of years ago, Jeske noted increased public awareness about winter weather threats.
"We have seen in that period from 2020 to now, winter storm Yuri, and so I think when we're going through this process we hear more about, hey, winter storm I think is a, you know, a higher hazard because we recently lived through one of those a few years ago," Jeske said.
The Office of Emergency Management is encouraging all county residents to fill out their survey, telling officials what threats and hazards they observe in their neighborhoods.
Watch a recording of McLennan County's Hazard Mitigation Plan public meeting here.
The link to the survey to give your neighborhood feedback for the plan is here.
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