Hazard mitigation describes sustained actions taken to prevent or minimize long-term risks to life and property from hazards and create successive benefits over time. Pre-disaster mitigation actions are taken in advance of a hazard event and are essential to breaking the disaster cycle of damage, reconstruction and repeated damage. With careful selection, successful mitigation actions are cost-effective means of reducing risk of loss over the long-term.

Hazard mitigation planning has the potential to produce long-term and recurring benefits by breaking the cycle of loss. A core assumption of mitigation is that current dollars invested in mitigation practices will significantly reduce the demand for future dollars by lessening the amount needed for recovery, repair, and reconstruction. These mitigation practices will also enable local residents, businesses, and industries to re-establish themselves in the wake of a disaster, getting the economy back on track sooner and with less interruption.  

Accordingly, the Monroe County Hazard Mitigation Steering Committee (HMSC), composed of government leaders from Monroe County, in cooperation with the elected officials of the County and its municipalities have completed the 2021 Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). The Plan is a result of work by citizens of the County in developing a pre-disaster multi-hazard mitigation plan that will not only guide the County towards greater disaster resistance, but will also respect the character and needs of the community.