Lafayette County planning ways to mitigate future disasters
Some sections of Lafayette County have hardly dried yet from the heavy summer flooding, and officials are already looking at ways to head off future disasters.
In what is being billed as an effort to better prepare the county for future disaster vulnerability, John Reichling, who serves as both chief deputy of the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office and the county's emergency management director, applied for and received a "Pre-Disaster Mitigation" planning grant for the county.
Now he is busy assembling a work group of county residents to review and guide the planning activities.
"I am very excited about this part of the planning process," Reichling said. "The input from the workgroup can have long-lasting impacts, making Lafayette County safer and more disaster resistant," he said.
Lafayette County had minimal flood damage to homes but sustained huge agriculture losses, with an estimated $60 million in crop and other agriculture-related damages. It also sustained an estimated $50,000 in damages to publicly owned property such as roads and bridges.
The purpose of the early planning is try to
identify areas where mitigation actions can reduce or eliminate the
long-term risk to human life and property from natural or man-made
disasters.
"The goal of this grant is to complete an approvable plan, which will serve as a road map that outlines potential cost effective hazard mitigation activities, some of which might be available for future grant funding," Reichling said.
Reichling pointed out that mitigation -- or preventive -- actions can be as simple as elevating a furnace in a basement that sometimes has water seepage or as complex as relocating buildings out of floodplains.
The work group Reichling is assembling will review background information about the county and begin identifying strategies that might help in future disasters.
Reichling said this summer's floods show the state is vulnerable to a variety of disasters and said Wisconsin has suffered $3 billion in disaster-related damages in the past three decades, with half of that occurring in the 1990s.
"It is estimated that for every dollar spent on mitigation, $2 to $3 in future damages can be avoided," he said.
Those who are interested in more information or would like to provide input into the plan can call Reichling at 608-776-4870.
