"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." This statement emphasizes the overwhelming risk that certain counties face, illustrating the limits of mitigation efforts in the face of significant natural hazards.
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. This plan seeks to equip local officials with various strategies to shield the community from these inevitable threats.
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, further compounding the risks faced by vulnerable counties.
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