KAMM Updates

Kentucky Watches, Warnings or Advisories  – Weather Alerts Follow the alerts, link here.

 

Time to Renew KAMM Membership

Join KAMM for 2019!  Link to Join KAMM.  

 

Save the Date!

KAMM’s 15th Anniversary!  

2019 KAMM Conference

Lake Barkley State Resort Park

September 17-19, 2019

September 16, 2019 – Pre-conference

 

2019 KAMM Conference Call for Abstracts 

We invite KAMM friends to take part in this year’s annual conference and pre-conference activities by submitting an abstract for the conference program.  We are seeking abstracts suitable to this year’s theme – KAMM XV: Celebrate the Past, Inspire the Future for our anticipated largest conference ever.

Link to the 2019  Call for Abstracts. 

 

Announcing KAMM Regional Training in March! 

As a benefit to KAMM members, free Regional Trainings are available in all four regions. 

 

2018 KAMM Conference Recap

Mitigation Superheroes: Investing in Our Communities

We have presentations, photos, Certificate of Attendance and resources.   Link to Conference Recap.

 

MGT-418 –  Readiness: Training Identification & Preparedness Planning

March 4-5, 2019

8:00am-4:30pm

Muhlenberg County EOC

504 Doss Drive, Powderly, KY 

Registration Extended to February 22, 2019

This course teaches how to create effective training plans using a whole community approach.  You will learn a jurisdiction training assessment process in which an integrated assessment team creates a jurisdictional profile and evaluates the ability to fully implement the Emergency Operations Plans (EOP).  You will then be able to identify and catalog training gaps and identify ways to close them by prioritizing training efforts, developing improvement plans, and implementing a course of action.  This course is taught in partnership with the National Center for Biomedical Research and Training (NCBRT).  

Who Should Attend

Emergency Management, Elected Officials, Emergency Medical Services, Fire Service, Healthcare, Hazardous Materials, Law Enforcement, School Officials, Private Sector, Religious Organizations, Public Health, Public Safety Communications, Public Works and Volunteer Organizations. 

For registration and information, link to March 4-5 MGT-418 RTIPP Muhlenberg County 

 

Using LIDAR for LOMAs Webinar

Cooperating Technical Partners Information Exchange

FEMA has recently developed guidelines regarding the use of LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) derived topographic data for Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) applications.  This free webinar will provide information on the Minnesota pilot project where this concept was tested, a Montana project that compared Lowest Adjacent Grades (LAGs) derived from LIDAR with field surveys and FEMA’s new guidelines.

Wednesday, March 6

2:00-3:30 p.m. ET 

Presenters:

  • Alan Lulloff, P.E., CFM – ASFPM Flood Science Center
  • Ceil Strauss, CFM – MN DNR
  • Suzanne Jiwani, P.E., CFM – MN DNR
  • Steve Story, P.E., CFM – MT DNRC
  • Melissa, Christie – Quantum Spatial
  • Beth Norton, GISP – FEMA Headquarters

Agenda:

  • Webinar Logistics – Jason Hochschild, ASFPM Flood Science Center
  • Introduction – Alan Lulloff
  • The Minnesota LIDAR/LOMA pilot project – Ceil Strauss and Suzanne Jiwani
  • The Montana LAG analysis project – Steve Story and Melissa Christie
  • FEMA guidelines for using LIDAR for LOMAs – Beth Norton
  • Questions/Discussion 

Register now at this link.    After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.  

Link to FEMA fact sheet on Using LiDAR For Map Amendments [.pdf].

 

Ohio River Basin Flood Risk Management Workshop

Save the Date!

April 10 & 11, 2019
Kenton County Public Library- Erlanger Branch
401 Kenton Lands Road, Erlanger, KY 

The upcoming multi-state interagency Flood Risk Management workshop will:

  • Unify and share information within the Ohio River Basin.
  • Discuss the greatest needs and common threats in the Ohio River Basin.
  • Share lessons learned within the Ohio River Basin.-present flood risk management activities on Federal, State and Local levels.
  • Discuss aspects important for common flood risk management activities in the Ohio River Basin.

The Ohio River Basin is a valuable asset providing abundant resources and significant economic, social and cultural benefits to the nation.  The Basin spans 14 states and contains over 204K square miles.  An integrated system of flood control projects within the Basin has prevented over $39B in damages, saved countless lives, and supported wise floodplain use.  However, the Basin remains at risk from repetitive floods and insufficient resources to maintain aging infrastructure, threatening the 27 million residents.  These risks continue to surface as fatalities in vulnerable populations, flood-wrecked communities, increased insurance costs, and other socioeconomic impacts.

More information to be published.  Contact Megan M. Thompson Community Planner, Plan Formulation Section, Planning Branch US Army Corps of Engineers megan.m.thompson@usace.army.mil.

 

FEMA and the National Association of Realtors Partner to Improve Disaster Preparedness

November 2, 2018

On November 2, 2018, the FEMA and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced an agreement to work together to educate consumers and homebuyers about disaster preparedness. NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall and FEMA Administrator Brock Long signed the memorandum of agreement at the 2018 REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Boston, MA.

Insurance is the best way for homeowners, renters and businesses to financially protect themselves from losses caused by floods, fires and other disasters.  This is an opportunity for FEMA and NAR to collaborate on getting out information about emergency preparedness, insurance, and assistance information to the public.

The agreement allows FEMA and NAR to work together to educate and help the nation prepare for disasters better, while it also allows Realtors® to continue supporting the Realtor Disaster Relief Fund.

 

FEMA Releases State-Led Public Assistance Guide

February 2019

This week, FEMA released the “State-Led Public Assistance Guide”, providing additional resources for recipients to lead some or all aspects of Public Assistance operations for smaller disasters.  State-led Public Assistance maximizes specialized features of the Public Assistance delivery process to enhance the capacity of recipients to achieve local communities’ immediate and long-term recovery goals.  Aligning with FEMA 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, state-led Public Assistance operations preserves federal resources for catastrophic disasters and strengthen the emergency management enterprise to one that is federally supported, state-managed, and locally executed.

The benefits of State-led Public Assistance programs include:

  • Allowing recipients to provide tailored customer service for sub-recipients.
  • Providing opportunities for recipients to enhance or build capabilities to support disaster recovery.
  • Enhancing the recipient role in shaping and achieving desired recovery outcomes.
  • Encouraging recipients to build upon existing relationships and familiarity with their applicant base to increase efficiency throughout grant lifecycle.

Public Assistance provides disaster grant assistance to recipients and sub-recipients to help communities quickly respond to and recover from major disasters or emergencies.  FEMA authorized recipients to lead PA delivery for small, federally declared disasters since 2001, which has resulted in several recipients demonstrating ability to lead Public Assistance operations with varying levels of federal oversight.

 

Update: NFIP 2019 Reinsurance Placement

Febraury 2019

For a third year, FEMA continued its traditional reinsurance placement for NFIP for the 2019 hurricane season.  Effective on Jan.1, FEMA secured $1.32 billion in reinsurance to cover qualifying flood losses occurring this calendar year.  This placement complements the NFIP’s existing capital markets placement, and it continues FEMA’s risk management practice against future catastrophic flood loss.

FEMA paid $186 million for premium coverage, with 28 reinsurance companies agreeing to indemnify FEMA for flood losses for flood events between $4 – $10 billion.  As a result, for incidents where NFIP claims exceed $5 billion threshold, FEMA will receive payment through these reinsurance agreements.

Congress granted FEMA authority to secure reinsurance from the private reinsurance and capital markets through the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 and the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014.

For additional information about this traditional reinsurance placement, you can read Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and other details about this reinsurance placement, available at https://www.fema.gov/nfip-reinsurance-program.

 

Navigating the Restyled NFIP Flood Insurance Manual

January 2019

If you were not able to attend the Navigating the Restyled NFIP Flood Insurance Manual webinar in December, a recording is now available.  To view the recording, click on the link below.

View the Pre-Recorded Webinar Presentation – Navigating the Restyled NFIP Flood Insurance Manual                                      

Webinar Overview:  In October, FEMA released a new, easy to use Flood Insurance Manual.  FEMA designed the manual with insurance professionals in mind.  The redesigned manual aims to make flood insurance issues and NFIP processes more understandable and facilitate consistent and reliable service from insurance professionals to their policyholders.

The webinar will show you how to get around the new manual in order to ease the transition to it.  The NFIP Flood Insurance Manual is a resource for insurance professionals and others as they work with FEMA to close the insurance gap.

 

New FloodSmart.gov

January 2019

The updates to FloodSmart.gov incorporates social science and website usage research as well as best practices for a streamlined and customer-centric experience.  The next phase of the website launch will include insurance agent toolkits, social media templates, marketing tools, and flood map change toolkits.

For Consumers, the website focuses on flood insurance …

  • Why Buy or Renew
  • How to Buy or Renew
  • Understanding Costs
  • Before and After a Flood

The BIG Cost of Flooding – Interactive Tool

Whether people in your community end up having to repair or replace their building and or its contents, recovering from flood damage is expensive!  Most homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies do not cover flood damage, so it is important for citizens to speak with their insurance agent or company to find what their policies cover. 

To help communicate some of these costs to people, Floodsmart.gov has created an interactive tool to show people the flood recovery costs of several different flood depths for multiple home sizes.  To see the interactive tool, visit https://www.floodsmart.gov/costOfFlooding/index.html. 

FloodSmart.gov is the official website of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). 

 

Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2018 Interim Report

New National Institute of Building Sciences study on mitigation finds that modern, regularly updated building codes save lives and protect property.  The National Institute of Building Sciences released the Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: 2018 Interim Report at its annual conference, “Building Innovation 2019.”

The 2018 interim report updates and expands upon mitigation measures studied in 2005 by evaluating a broad suite of mitigation measures that can inform decision-making around investments to reduce the impacts of natural hazards.  

The project team studied four categories of natural hazard mitigation efforts to date:

  1. Design of typical new buildings to exceed certain requirements of the 2015 IBC and IRC, and to conform to the 2015 IWUIC
  2. Design of typical new buildings to comply with the 2018 IBC and IRC, compared with 1990-era design requirements
  3. Mitigation of existing buildings funded by FEMA, EDA, and HUD.
  4. Natural-hazard mitigation for utilities and transportation lifelines. 

The study found that adopting the 2018 International Codes generates a national benefit of $11 for every $1 invested.  The I-Codes are the most widely used and adopted set of building safety codes in the world.

This report follows a multi-year study on natural hazard mitigation and comes more than a decade after NIBS’ original report on mitigation.  The project team studied flood risk, hurricane wind hazards and earthquake risk.  They found that the national mitigation benefit-cost ratio associated with code adoption is

  • $6 to $1 for floods,
  • $10 to $1 for hurricanes, and
  • $12 to $1 for earthquakes, with benefits coming through avoided casualties, post-traumatic stress, property damage, business interruptions and insurance premiums.

The results show that all building stakeholders benefit from regularly updated codes—from developers, lenders, tenants and communities.  Communities that consistently meet the latest editions of the I-Codes, culminating in the 2018 editions, have added 30,000 new jobs to the construction-materials industry.

Last year’s interim report also found that adoption of the 2015 International Wildland Urban Interface Code provided a $4 to $1 mitigation benefit against wildfire risk.  These findings demonstrate the importance of regular updates to the building codes and strong code enforcement in order to mitigate damage from natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding.

Download the report here.  

 

Water Organizations of Kentucky – Water Organizations of Kentucky

August 2018

Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute (KWRRI), created the poster, Water Organizations of Kentucky, to serve as an overview of water organizations and facilitate networking among organizations.  Download here: Water Organizations of Kentucky (PDF, 1pg). 

If you would like to purchase a printed copy of the poster, please contact kwrri@uky.edu. 

 

KAMM Receives 2018 Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador Recognition  

November 2018
 
We are very pleased to be recognized by the National Weather Service (NWS) as a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador for the organization’s support to NWS’ goal of creating a Weather-Ready Nation.  The Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador initiative is an effort to formally recognize NOAA partners who are improving the nation’s readiness against extreme weather, water, and climate events.
 
KAMM promoted NWS efforts in the Community Collaborative Rain Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network by providing several dozen official CoCoRaHS rain gauges as speaker gifts and door prizes at our 2018 conference at Lake Barkley State Resort Park.  Everyone that received a rain gauge agreed to participate in the CoCoRaHS citizen science network.  Through these efforts, KAMM strengthened an already valuable Weather-Ready Nation partnership. KAMM has collaborated with the NWS offices in Kentucky for nearly 15 years in an effort to promote mitigation of natural hazards in the Commonwealth. 
 
Link to a Story Map highlighting our recognition and many others at: https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=38d9ed51a5e14a4b9c32342ea3da06dd.
 
 

FEMA Announces Interim Management Costs Policies

November 15, 2018

FEMA released two interim polices Nov. 15 as part of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 (DRRA) implementation.

On Oct. 5, 2018, President Trump signed the DRRA into law.  The legislation contains critical reforms to federal disaster programs.  To begin implementation of these reforms, both the FEMA Public Assistance Management Costs (Interim) Policy and the FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program Management Costs (Interim) Policy are now available. Follow the linked Policy titles. 

Both policies will offer greater flexibility to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments and may allow more funding to manage Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and Public Assistance programs.  Under these interim policies, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners may be allowed higher rates of reimbursement for their management costs when implementing Public Assistance (12 percent) and Hazard Mitigation Grant Program projects (15 percent).

The DRRA defines management costs as indirect costs, direct administrative costs, and any other administrative expenses for a specific project.  These policies will help to simplify the delivery of FEMA’s programs and provides incentives for recipients to practice efficient grants management and complete activities in a timely manner

FEMA worked to develop the interim policies shortly after the law was passed to provide immediate guidance to grant recipients and subrecipients on how they may benefit from the changes to reimbursement for management costs.  FEMA is working through implementation guidance for both interim policies.

Visit https://www.fema.gov/disaster-recovery-reform-act-2018 for more information and to find a summary of each section of the act, as well as the status on FEMA’s implementation.  In total, the law contains more than 50 provisions that require FEMA policy or regulation changes for full implementation.  To view a summary of all the changes in DRRA, click HERE.

 

Story Map Highlights Award-Winning CTP: Kentucky Division of Water Resources

Kentucky CTP Story Map

When it comes to mapping Kentucky’s floodplains, the Kentucky Division of Water (KDOW) is a Cooperating Technical Partner (CTP) with FEMA.  The CTP Program is an innovative approach to creating partnerships between FEMA and other agencies that have the interest and capability to become more active participants in the FEMA flood hazard mapping program.  

In 2018, KDOW was awarded 1st place in the CTP Recognition Program.  The Division was recognized by FEMA for excellence in Communications, Outreach and Program Management for integrating different technologies to communicate flood risk, including virtual reality and live polling during meetings, and for embracing a variety of partnerships.  KDOW’s work has been featured in a story map that is an interactive product that uses GIS maps, narrative text, images and video to showcase CTP work.

View the story map at http://arcg.is/1nqua0 to see some of the great things that the Kentucky Risk MAP team had done over the past several years.

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mitigation Matters!  

Have questions, contact us at help@kymitigation.org.  

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