Overview

Mitigation is an integral part of the City of Haines City Emergency Management Plan. Mitigation actions reduce or eliminate the loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. Due to Florida's weather, geography, and miles of coastline the state is highly vulnerable to disasters. Disasters can be very costly to both citizens and government.

The goals of mitigation activities are to:

• Protect people and structures.
• Reduce the costs of response and recovery.

Mitigation is accomplished in conjunction with a hazard analysis, which helps to identify:

• What events can occur in and around the community.
• The likelihood that an event will occur.
• The consequences of the event in terms of casualties, destruction, disruption to critical services, and costs of recovery.

Things You Can Do

There are steps that you can take to prepare yourself and mitigate against damages. The first thing you can do is know your risk. Next, you should create an emergency communications plan and build an emergency kit to ensure you and your family are prepared. As part of having a plan, we also encourage you to consider your coverage. A flood insurance policy can protect your home, property, or business from the financial damages of flooding. Most homeowner's insurance does not cover damage from flooding.

Additional Steps

In addition to these steps, there are also mitigation measures that you can take to help prevent, or minimize the impact of flooding to your home and its contents. A few examples include:

• Elevate your furnace, water heater and electric panel in your home, if you live in a high flood risk area.
• Install "check valves" to prevent flood water from backing up into the drains of your home.
• When practical, citizens can construct barriers (Sandbag Locations) to stop floodwater from entering your home or business.