MANTEO, N.C. — Hurricane season will be here before we know it, and Dare County emergency management officials are planning ahead for that and a variety of other potential emergencies.
Officials discussed updating the hazard mitigation plan they shared with Currituck County with the public Monday night.
Emergency management officials must update their hazard mitigation plan every five years to receive grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The current Outer Banks report is over 650 pages long and was published in 2020. It prepares for everything from natural disasters to cyber security threats and transportation infrastructure failures.
“It makes us eligible for FEMA grant funding,” explained Dare County emergency management director Drew Pearson. “But more importantly, it helps mitigate the risks and hazards to our people, to our towns and to our community.”
Outer Banks resident Aida Havel stopped by the meeting, held in Manteo.
“I wanted to learn more about Dare County’s hazard mitigation approach and what this plan was all about,” she said.
Havel has lived on the Outer Banks for eight years and says, though it’s beautiful, living on the oceanfront comes with its risks.
“I’ve had to evacuate twice from potential hurricanes. I was very happy to follow the advice of people who know much better than me,” Havel explained.
Emergency officials just began the process of updating the Outer Banks Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. Pearson says the best way to start is with the public’s input.
“We really look forward to getting their feedback and getting their insights on it,” he said. “They live in our community and know the hazards that they’ve faced, and we just want to make sure we didn’t miss something.”
Because every county in North Carolina has a hazard mitigation plan, it has an enhanced hazard mitigation distinction. This means it’s eligible for a larger share of federal funds if disaster strikes.
“As a result of that, [the state] hires a contractor to help us with our plan update,” said Pearson. “It’s a benefit to have every county covered by a hazard mitigation plan.”
Havel says she also wanted to check in with the county’s response to petroleum contamination at Buxton Beach on Hatteras Island where she lives. Portions of the beach are currently closed. The pollution comes from yearslong use of the beach as a U.S. Navy and Coast Guard site.
“It’s a real environmental disaster,” she said. “On the federal level it appears that various agencies are pointing fingers at each other instead of just working together to clean up the problem.”
Because the beach is federal land, Pearson says the county has limited ability to act but is doing everything it can.
“The comments we hear from our public are spot on,” said Pearson. “The county’s doing everything we can. We’re engaging our elected officials, we’re telling people that it needs to get done, we’re doing everything we can. We just can’t go out and do the work to actually stop it.”
For those who may have missed Monday’s meeting, there’s another Tuesday evening at 5:30 at the Currituck County Public Safety Center, 125 College Way, Barco, N.C.