Officials hope public feedback will help Berkeley Co. build better natural disaster plan

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Berkeley County is in the process of updating its hazard mitigation plan and officials are asking the community to weigh in.

The county is hosting a public meeting for residents to voice their concerns about any natural disasters.

Every five years, FEMA requires the county to update its hazard mitigation plan and public input is the first step.

Community feedback helps the county identify issues that may not have existed five years ago, and they aren’t just focused on flooding or hurricanes. They want to create a long term plans that includes solutions for man made hazards like chemical spills. The goal is to be proactive.

"We definitely wanted to make sure that we put a little more emphasis on hazardous materials and man made disasters this time around just to make sure we have an all hazards approach,” said Ben Almquist, Berkeley County Director of Emergency Preparedness.

The county’s Emergency Preparedness Director is certain two issues will come up.

“We’re going to hear a lot about flooding and hurricanes of course, those are the two major concerns that we have about the area. But really part of the reason why we do this is so that we can find things that we maybe didn’t think of and get that public feedback.”

The meeting will be held at the county administration building on Highway 52 at 5 p.m. Thursday.

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