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Health & Fitness

What Is a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, How Does It Work, and How We Got To Where We Are Today

With all the recent news articles and postings about home demolition as a result of the flood, there are many misconceptions about the home acquisition program.

The historic September 21, 2009, flooding affected many lives of residents throughout the cities of Austell and Powder Springs and, additionally, in Cobb County. With all the recent news articles and postings about home demolition as a result of the flood, there are many misconceptions about the home acquisition program. This acquisition program, known as the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) is part of, and funded by, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and is a voluntary homeowner participation program. This program is not covered under the standard flood insurance policy. However, a flood policy does include a benefit known as Increased Cost of Compliance (ICC), to be discussed further in detail later in this article.

Authorized under Section 404 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) provides funding to states and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures. This only happens after a major disaster declaration declared by the President of the United States. The program is intended to reduce the loss of life and property due to disasters such as the September 2009 flood event and to enable mitigation measures to be implemented during the recovery from a disaster. Homeowners cannot apply directly to FEMA for this program, but local governments, such as the City of Austell can, if they are a part of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Let’s Go Back A Bit

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As a result of the September 21, 2009 flood event, the City of Austell received approximately 21 inches of rainfall that inundated more than 700 homes. On September 23, 2009, former Governor Sonny Perdue requested a major disaster declaration due to severe flash flooding beginning September 18, 2009. On September 24, 2009, President Barack Obama declared that a major disaster existed in certain areas of the State of Georgia, including the City of Austell. This declaration made Individual Assistance (IA) requested by the former Governor available to affected individuals and households in Cobb County, including the City of Austell. This declaration also made Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) assistance requested by the former Governor available for future hazard mitigation measures.

The Acquisition Program

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To meet the City of Austell’s requirement for acquisition, to be eligible for the home acquisition program as part of the FEMA HMGP, a homeowner must have sustained substantial damage, defined as having received more than fifty percent damage to their home, and must be within the designated 100-year, or the AE zone, Special Flood Hazard Area. Once the home is purchased and demolished, the property will be returned to greenspace, in perpetuity, and no insurable structure can be built on that acquired property. The property may be used for community gardens, walking trails, and other passive recreational purposes, however.

How is the amount of substantial damage calculated?

Substantial Damage is defined as damage to a structure where the cost of restoring the structure to its pre-damaged condition would equal or exceed 50 percent of the market value of the structure, before the damage occurred. All structures that are determined to be substantially damaged are automatically considered to be substantial improvements, regardless of the actual repair work performed. If the cost to fully repair the structure to its pre-damaged condition is equal to or greater than 50 percent of the structure’s market value before the flood-event occurred, then the structure must be elevated (or floodproofed if the structure is non-residential) to or above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE), and meet other applicable National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) requirements.

ICC? What Does This Acronym Mean?

If the property suffers damage that qualifies as Substantial Damage, but the property owner does not want their property purchased through the HMGP grant process, or if a structure is classified as repetitively damaged, there are monies available through ICC, or Increased Cost of Compliance, as part of the homeowners flood insurance policy, to bring the structure into compliance with the community’s current Flood Ordinance regulations. ICC allows up to $30,000.00 to perform mitigation measures to include elevating a residential structure, relocating that same residential structure or floodproofing a non-residential structure.

Under the standard flood insurance policy, ICC provides for the payment of a claim to help offset the costs to comply with the City of Austell’s floodplain management ordinance from a flood in which a building has been declared substantially damaged or repetitively damaged.

As part of the acquisition process to mitigate flooding, during this current round of HMGP, all homeowners having flood insurance have assigned their ICC claim to the City of Austell to demolish the structure. Doing so will prevent future flooding of their structure. The City of Austell’s ultimate goal is to one day remove all structures that have a potential for flooding out of the Special Flood Hazard Area.

Building Within a Floodplain Area – Just a Reminder

In the City of Austell, no owner or developer can perform any kind of development on any site within a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), without first obtaining the necessary development and flood permits. In compliance with the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning Districts’ (MNGWPD) Floodplain Management and Prevention Ordinance, building in the SFHA comes with additional increased standards. Developers must submit extensive and detailed construction plans to the Austell Public Works Stormwater Management Division for review and approval. Developers must provide documentation that their construction will adhere to No Adverse Impact standards in relation to surrounding properties, such as increased flood peaks, increased flood stages, higher flood velocities, and increased erosion and sedimentation, to name a few criteria.

To learn more about floodplain management, please visit the Austell Public Works Stormwater Management website at www.apwsm.org.

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About the author: Duane R. Demeritt, CFM, is employed with the City of Austell as Floodplain Administrator and oversees the daily operations of the Stormwater Management division. Duane has earned national recognition as a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) through the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM). Also certified through the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission (GSWCC), he holds the Level IB Erosion and Sedimentation Control Inspector certification and Level II Plan Review certification. Additionally, Duane currently serves on the Georgia Association of Floodplain Management (GAFM) Board of Directors as the Metro Atlanta Region (Region Five) Representative, and is also a founding member of GAFM.

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