PIKE COUNTY, PA — Pike County is currently taking the necessary steps towards implementing its hazard mitigation plan for 2021.

The plan looks at all natural and man-made disasters that affect Pike County, and/or have the potential to affect Pike County. Once the Pike County Office of Community Planning knows which disasters may be the most prevalent, the necessary actions will be taken.

“For example, if a house is flooding all the time, a project would be to elevate that house and get it above base flood elevation, or relocate it,” said Brian Snyder, Pike County Community Planner.

There will also be a major focus on buildings and infrastructure, as well as the critical facilities that may be impacted in the event of a disaster. Critical facilities include police, fire, emergency medical services, hospitals, shelters,  power generation facilities, water systems and major roadways.

In order to successfully implement this plan, representatives from the Pike County Office of Community Planning are asking residents for their input on how to keep the county safe. An official online mitigation survey has been posted by the county.

“The survey asks where you reside in the county, which township or borough, how long you’ve been here, what kinds of hazards you’ve seen, what kind of hazards you’ve been impacted by and what would  help fix the problem. General questions like that so we can get a better understanding of what the public is seeing,” said Snyder.

Under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, communities must update their strategies for hazard mitigation every five years to qualify for funds from FEMA. This planning process itself is made possible by a grant from FEMA.

The county’s last hazard mitigation plan was conducted in 2017. Some of the highest hazard risks from the last plan have been floods, droughts, wildfires, winter storms and pandemics.

According to Snyder the most recent hazards that the county has seen have been utility interruptions, stormwater problems, thunderstorms, snowstorms and issues related to the spread of COVID-19.

Residents of Pike County have until mid-November to complete the survey, which is anonymous and should take up to 15 minutes to complete.

After the results from the survey are in, Snyder and the project consultant will meet with a steering committee to discuss the proper implementation of the results.

“We’ll look over the responses and the consultant will insert the responses into the plan itself... If there’s a certain area that pops up in the survey with a lot of responses, then we will look more into that area,” said Snyder.

The Pike County Hazard Mitigation Survey is located on www.pikepa.org under the “What’s New” tab. For more information regarding the survey and the hazard mitigation process itself, contact Brian Snyder at bsnyder@pikepa.org.