PRESS RELEASE

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments multi-jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). The plan was funded with a grant from FEMA and updates the local HMPs for all municipalities in the NVCOG Region. With this plan approval, all 19 NVCOG communities are eligible to apply to the Connecticut Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS) for mitigation grants administered by FEMA.

The NVCOG HMP examines a range of natural hazards including winter storms, hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Strategies and actions recommended in the plan are aimed at reducing the risk and vulnerability of the region to those hazards over the next five years. With approved plans, the region’s municipalities can apply for federal funding to undertake projects that will protect the lives and property of region’s residents and make the region more resilient to future natural disasters.

The project team, consisting of NVCOG planners and consultant SLR, Inc., worked with municipal staff and stakeholders in each community over the past 18 months to review previous plans and identify risks.  Input from municipal officials, stakeholders, and the public were all incorporated into a final multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan and 19 municipal annexes which were adopted by local governing boards. This regional effort represents a cost and time savings to municipalities when compared to developing individual HMPs as was common previously.

Plan documents can be accessed at www.nvcogct.gov/hmp.

Contact:

Aaron Budris
Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments
203-757-0535
abudris@nvcogct.org