City, Federal agency’s Project Impact to focus on making Austin disaster-ready

For immediate release
Feb. 5, 2001
Contact: Valli Wasp, Office of Emergency Management, 370-8800
Lindy McGinnis, Office of Emergency Management, 370-8865
Rebecca Giello, Public Information Office, 499-3045

Austin, the state’s 2001 Project Impact city, launched its two-year seed program today aimed at better protecting its residents from disasters. The City's goal is to make Project Impact a long-term City program incorporated within the operations of the Office of Emergency Management.

Mayor Kirk Watson and Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives said Project Impact, a federal government initiative, will focus locally on natural disasters.

The education campaign will ask residents (and provide answers) to two key questions:

• What can be done to avoid property loss from a disaster?
• What are personal responsibilities in case disaster hits?

Mayor Watson was joined by Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission National Flood Insurance Program, State Coordinator Mike Howard and City of Austin Office of Emergency Management Director Steve Collier at a news conference on the south shore of Town Lake.

The Austin effort will include distributing (and installing) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather radios to households, businesses, government and public buildings; acquiring and demolishing homes within floodplains; encouraging the construction of tornado safe rooms; promoting more wind-resistant building standards; and installing and upgrading flood early warning sensors and equipment.

The local effort, funded by $300,000 seed grant from FEMA, is part of a nationwide program entitled “Project Impact – Building Disaster-Resistant Communities.” The goal is to protect the public and cut the amount of money spent rebuilding communities where often losses could have been prevented.

In the past decade, FEMA has spent $20 billion to assist victims of natural disasters. Billions more have been spent paying insurance claims while businesses lost revenues and employees lost jobs. Other government agencies contributed millions more.

FEMA created Project Impact to increase local effort to help mitigate hazards. Before its selection as a Project Impact community, the City of Austin already had a number of on-going hazard mitigation projects such as drainage improvement and flood control projects; acquisition of repeatedly flooded homes in the Onion Creek flood plain; and improvements to the City's Flood Early Warning Program.

According to the local Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis, Austin is at risk for the following hazards: flooding, winter storms, hazardous materials incidents, drought, tornadoes and urban and wild land fires.

“We’ve been relatively lucky so far,” Mayor Watson said about how Austin has been hit by natural disasters in recent years. “But we know that even to lose one life – one person’s home or business --- is one too many."

"Project Impact is not just a government effort," Watson said. "It's not just a partnership between the City of Austin and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it's a partnership with the members of the community to build a disaster-resistant place to live, work and play."

Mayor Watson acknowledged Jeff Thompson, owner of Sunsational Solutions, a charter Project Impact Partner who will donate safety and security window films to a day care facility in East Austin.

FEMA selected Austin as Texas’ 2001 Project Impact community as a result of the City's application in June 2000. Austin is the fourth area in Texas designated for the disaster mitigation effort. Others included Lubbock in 2000; Arlington, 1999; and the Harris County cities of Bellaire, Houston and Webster in 1998.

The City will host Project Impact workshops focusing on building local hazard mitigation partnerships. The workshops are scheduled to begin March 23.