About Hazard Mitigation

FEMA defines Hazard Mitigation as any action taken to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from identified hazards of concern. Hazard mitigation is the prevention component of the emergency management process.

• Preparedness activities are the emergency plans, training, drills, and exercises that individuals, communities and first responders participate in on almost a daily basis. These are done to get ready for an actual emergency or disaster before it happens.
• Responses are the short-term, emergency actions taken to address the immediate effects of a hazard.
• Recovery is the longer-term process of restoring the community back to normal or pre-disaster conditions.
• Mitigation activities are actions that prevent or eliminate losses, even if an incident does occur. Mitigation can reduce or eliminate the need for an emergency response and greatly reduce the recovery period.

Why Natural Hazard Mitigation Is Important

Most people who live or work in Placer County have been affected by natural hazards in one way or another. Placer County and its residents are vulnerable to a variety of hazards including floods, dam failure, wildfire, drought, and other severe weather events.

The rising costs associated with disaster response and recovery have focused the attention of federal, state, and local governments on addressing natural hazards before they occur. Obviously, events like torrential rains and floods cannot be prevented from occurring. However, planning for natural hazards and implementing mitigation measures can reduce the impact of such events when they do occur. Emergency response and recovery costs; property damage and monetary losses; personal injury and loss of life; and the overall economic and social impact on the community can all be reduced, and in some instances eliminated, through natural hazard mitigation.

National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System

The National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements. As a result, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from community actions that meet the goals of the CRS Program. The objective of the CRS is to reward communities for what they are doing, as well as to provide an incentive for implementing additional flood protection activities. 

The reduction in flood insurance premium rates is provided according to a community’s CRS classification. Placer County is currently a CRS Class 5, which provides a 25% discount on flood insurance for those located within the special flood hazard area (SFHA) and a 10% discount for those located in non-SFHA areas.