With hurricane lessons fresh, Greenville updates hazard mitigation plan

Preparedness is key when hazardous events occur in Greenville.

This was recently evident when Hurricane Helene hit the Upstate in late September, causing flooding and damage across the region. Other hazards that can be a threat to the city include winter weather, wildfires and tornadoes.

The city of Greenville Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan assesses the risk of such events and outlines strategies to help minimize a natural disaster’s impact on the community. Paul Dow, city engineer, said the city’s plan also helps with disaster funding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires the city to have a multi-hazard mitigation plan to be eligible for assistance grants.

Updates have recently been made to the city’s mitigation plan, a process that took almost a year to complete. The plan was created in 2009 and is included in the Greenville County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan. The last major overhaul of the city’s plan was completed in 2015.

Dow said it is important for the city to regularly revise the plan to make sure it is up to date, especially as hazards, technologies and resources change. The updated multi-hazard mitigation plan was presented during the city’s project preview meeting on Oct. 22.

A disaster-mitigation committee comprising public and private agencies was formed to revise the plan. The 24-person committee included representatives from the city, Greenville County, Greenville County Schools, Prisma Health and the United Way of Greenville County. The city also hired the consulting firm Woolpert to help with the project.

To update the plan, the committee created new mitigation measures after reviewing data and performing a hazard and risk assessment. Thirty-four mitigation initiatives are proposed for the city’s updated plan. These activities are divided into six categories:

Prevention
Public education and awareness
Natural resources protection
Emergency services
Property protection
Structural projects

Some mitigation measures were also added to the plan following Helene. Dow said the committee was able to use the lessons learned from the storm to help strengthen the plan. For example, one lesson from the storm was the need for efficient coordination between Duke Energy and the city when cleaning up fallen trees and power lines.

Related: Hurricane Helene’s impact

“Think about when trees hit power lines,” Dow said. “Sometimes when Duke Power gets there, they need help with the tree. When the city gets there, they need help with the power lines. Now we know immediately to get the two together as opposed to working separately because there was about a day lag in some of these places.”

Following public review, the city’s revised plan will be submitted to emergency agencies such as FEMA for approval. The plan will then need to be adopted by the Greenville City Council. Dow said he expects the plan to be reviewed by council by the end of the year.