Bartholomew County’s Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan says windstorms lead the list of frequent natural disasters experienced in south central Indiana, and fires, including wildfires, are among the other top tier hazards.
A special planning committee consisting of several sectors from throughout the county identifies what local vulnerabilities are, which results in a list of the most likely hazards, Bartholomew County Emergency Preparedness Director Shannan Cooke said Monday.
The determination is made with a calculated priority risk index (CPRI). Using this method, each hazard is evaluated in terms of probability of occurrence, severity, prior warming time and duration. The final plan and subsequent updates are put together into a report that includes a hazard summary.
Windstorms have a higher CPRI than tornadoes, which ranks slightly below the middle of the scale, according to a hazard summary included in the plan.
Cooke says it’s been her experience that many Hoosiers are confused about the difference between a high wind event and a tornado.
“We are more apt to have that straight-line wind event, which can do as much damage as a tornado,” Cooke said. “People don’t understand the difference, especially if we get any type of rotation. As long as it does not make contact with the ground, it’s still a funnel cloud. So it’s considered wind damage, rather than tornado damage.”
Besides straight-line winds, there are a variety of windstorms that include downdrafts, downburns, macrobursts, microbursts, and derecho – a widespread, short-lived windstorm associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms,
Drought and severe winter weather are ranked on the second highest tier on the CPRI, according to the hazard summary.
While memories of the devastating June 2008 flood remain with many local residents, floods rank in the middle of the scale. There is a slightly higher CPRI for dam and levee failure, as well as flash floods, than overflowing rivers and streams, the summary states.
Extreme temperatures also rank in the middle, with tornadoes slightly lower in the rankings. Ranked below tornadoes are hazardous materials incidents, while earthquakes and landslides have the lowest CPRI scores.
Bartholomew County initiated the multi-hazard mitigation plan in 2008, according to Cooke. The county was waiting for funding to arrive for the plan when the June floods arrived, she said. The committee updates the plan every five years with new data collected since the last update, Cooke said. The data is handed over to Christopher Burke Engineering of Indiana, who wrote the original report and participated in the five-year updates.
Approved by the Bartholomew County commissioners, the plan will next be assessed by city officials in Columbus before it is taken to incorporated communities such as Hope, Elizabethtown and Jonesville, according to Cooke.
Although the main objective of the plan is to reduce impacts and loss, it also determines how the county participates in the federal flood insurance program, Cooke said. Having an updated plan is also necessary to allow local homeowners to obtain FEMA and SBA assistance, she said.
