On the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s hazard map, the landscape of the U.S. is color-coded to illustrate different levels of danger from extreme weather.
Several Bay Area counties are shaded dark red, the highest level of risk. They’re considered to be even more in peril than the communities recently devastated by Hurricane Helene, which are still rated a less ominous light blue. In fact, five of the Bay Area’s nine counties are in the 99th percentile for natural disaster risks, according to the agency — ranked in the top 15 out of all 3,007 counties in the country.
Alameda, Santa Clara and Contra Costa counties are facing the 4th, 5th and 8th highest risk within California, respectively. Now, one county is taking steps to ensure its residents are better protected.
“Blue is good, red is bad,” said Rick Kovar, Contra Costa County’s Emergency Services Manager, referencing FEMA’s map during a multi-agency policy board meeting last week. But due to the county’s environmental conditions, “there’s nothing we can do to get our risk reduction down, other than maybe pave the whole county.”
The county’s 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan is an attempt to prepare for possible disaster — an in-depth report identifying every possible susceptibility, including the three biggest natural hazards looming in the East Bay: earthquakes, wildfires and landslides triggered by severe storms.
That destructive power was on full display last winter when atmospheric rivers relentlessly drenched California with torrential rainfall, triggering the first significant flooding, landslide and mudslide events reported in Contra Costa County since 2017. As global average temperatures rise, scientists project that the frequency and intensity of severe storms will increase.
The county’s 520-page document, revamped every five years, also charts dozens of mitigation strategies for local officials to help protect its 1.1 million residents against any future calamities.
“This is the soapbox for emergency planners — our strategies have to be how are we going to respond and build resiliency and mitigation to lessen those impacts,” Kovar said. “This is just the road map that tells us how we need to be doing that.”
Contra Costa County Office of Emergency Services Manager Rick Kovar speaks during a meeting of the Emergency Services Policy Board at the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department in Martinez, Calif., on Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
However, one major vulnerability looms amid these planning efforts: the county’s Office of Emergency Services, which is overseen by the Sheriff’s Office, currently has only four full-time emergency management positions and three staffers that plan, organize and maintain the Community Warning System — one of the most glaring concerns identified in a recent civil grand jury report criticizing inadequate alert protocols. That roster pales in comparison to the 21 approved positions in Alameda County and 29 personnel in Santa Clara County, as well as the 17 emergency managers working in nearby Sonoma County, which is half the size of Contra Costa.
County Administrator Monica Nino said that while officials are exploring ways to integrate AI and other tech to help supplement …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
