Lewis County is launching an update to the Lewis County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP).
The update is being led by Erika Katt and Ross McDowell from Lewis County Emergency Management, guided by a group of stakeholders representing Lewis County, the cities of Centralia and Chehalis, the Port of Chehalis, Lewis County Water District #2, Morton School District, fire districts, the Farm Bureau, Lewis County Conservation District, Timberland Library and a citizen representative.
An HMP looks at how the county can become more resilient to natural hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, wildfires, landslides and severe storms. It provides an overall strategy of programs, projects, and measures aimed at reducing the adverse impacts of natural hazards on the communities within Lewis County.
The agencies participating in the planning process will use hazard data to identify specific projects that can mitigate against the risk of natural hazards, such as retrofitting water and sewer systems, adding generators to critical facilities, or elevating or relocating structures outside of the floodplain.
The project is funded by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and will include several opportunities for public participation.
Stakeholder meetings are open to the public and are held online using Zoom. The next stakeholder meeting will be at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19. Future meetings will be on the third Tuesdays of each month. This fall, the stakeholder committee will be hosting a survey and online and in-person open houses.
Information about the project including stakeholder meeting dates, agendas and summaries will be posted on the HMP project website at the Lewis County Emergency Management main county page.
For questions, contact Erika Katt or Ross McDowell at, DEM@lewiscountywa.gov.
