The 2015 Update of the City of Cambridge Hazard Mitigation Plan and Policy Order

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND CREDITS

This plan was prepared for the City of Cambridge by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) under the direction of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The plan was funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) Grant Program.

MAPC Officers

President:

Lynn Duncan

Vice President:

Keith Bergman

Shironda Almeida

Secretary: Treasurer:

Taber Keally

Executive Director:

Marc. D. Draisen Credits

Project Manager:

Martin Pillsbury

Lead Proiect Planner:..

Barry Keppard

Susan Brunton

Mapping/GIS Services:

Bill Wong, Rebecca Schofield

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

Director:

Kurt Schwartz

Department of Conservation and Recreation

Commissioner:

Leo Roy

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Cambridge Hazard Mitigation Plan Update Steering Commiftee

Lisa Peterson

Deputy City Manager

Brian Gover

Local Emergency Planning Committee / Fire Department

Gerard Mahoney

Emergency Planning and Coordination / Fire Department

Police Department

Joseph Wilson

Department of Public Works

Owen O'Riordan

John Nardone

Department of Public Works

Community Development Department

John Bolduc

Sam Lipson

Public Health Department

Public Health Department

Lynn Schoeff

Steve Lenkauskas

Electrical Department

Inspectional Services Department

Mike Nicoloro

Jennifer LeTourneau

Conservation Commission

Sam Corda

Cambridge Water Department

Bill Van Schalkwyk

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nick Hambridge

Harvard University

: 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Hazard Mitigation planning is a proactive effort to identify actions that can be taken to reduce the dangers to life and property from natural hazard events. In the communities of the Boston region of Massachusetts, hazard mitigation planning tends to focus most on flooding, the most likely natural hazard to impact these communities. The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires all municipalities that wish to be eligible to receive FEMA funding for hazard mitigation grants, to adopt a local multi-hazard mitigation plan and update this plan in five year intervals.

PLANNING PROCESS

Planning for the Cambridge Hazard Mitigation Plan update was led by the Cambridge Local Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee, composed of staff from a number of different City Departments. This committee discussed where the impacts of natural hazards most affect the City, goals for addressing these impacts, and hazard mitigation measures that would benefit the City.

Public participation in this planning process is important for improving awareness of the potential impacts of natural hazards and to build support for the actions the City takes to mitigate them. The City hosted public meetings two times during the process with the two meetings occurring January 9, 2013 and January 10, 2013 and a third meeting that occurred March 18, 2014. The draft plan was then posted on the City's website for public review.

RISK ASSESSMENT

The Cambridge Hazard Mitigation Plan assesses the potential impacts to the City from flooding, high winds, winter storms, brush fire, and geologic hazards. Flooding, driven by hurricanes, northeasters, and other storms, clearly presents the greatest hazard to the City, most especially in locations that are low-lying or where drainage and conveyance systems can be overwhelmed during storm events with significant precipitation. The Cambridge Local Committee identified those areas where flooding most frequently occurs, comprising 17% of the City's land area, and over 3,100 building structures worth an estimated $907,000,000.

HAZARD MITIGATION GOALS

1. Goal: Protect the health and safety of the public. • Encourage people to be prepared before, during and after a hazard event. • Identify at-risk populations and keep up to date list of locations • Ensure that services related to public health can function during and after a hazard, e.g., sanitation, water, debris removal, hospitals, and emergency services. • Ensure that evacuation can happen in an organized and efficient manner. • Minimize secondary impacts from hazards, such as the release of pollutants. 2.

Goal: Protect existing properties and structures. • Provide resources for residents and businesses to make their buildings and properties more disaster resistant. • Educate the public on measures they can take to protect their property. • Maintain existing mitigation structures. Ensure that future development / redevelopment does not make existing properties more vulnerable to hazards. Ensure that critical facilities are protected from hazards. • Complete separation of combined sewers 3.

Goal: Ensure that essential services can function during and after a hazard event. Ensure that critical infrastructure is protected from natural hazards. • Ensure that people (key service providers and employees) can get into the city to provide services. • Build resiliency into the system for faster recovery, e.g., electricity distribution system. 4. Goal: Avoid chaos and confusion with good communication. • Have an effective communication plan.

Perform outreach to non-English speakers and other vulnerable populations before, during and after hazard events • Coordinate efforts with the private sector and institutions and with neighboring communities. 5.

Goal: Work regionally to mitigate impacts from natural hazards and to respond and recover from hazard events. • Continue to participate in regional efforts. • Cooperate with other agencies, communities, and private entities. • Understand priorities and capabilities of other entities to allow for resource- sharing, mutual aid, and entering into memoranda of understanding (MOU). 6. Goal: Determine priorities for directing resources for hazard mitigation and response. Prioritize mitigation projects.

2 • Continue to program mitigation projects in the 5 and 10 year CIP. • Pursue various funding sources. Encourage private property-owners to implement measures to protect their own property. 7. Protect natural resources Identify mitigation strategies that preserve or restore the function of natural systems. Protect indigenous wetland areas, undeveloped floodplains and other natural features that provide mitigation of natural hazards.

Introduce green infrastructure elements, where possible, to reduce impervious surfaces and introduce natural systems. 8. Create capacity to monitor existing changes • Identify and understand how climate change many alter where and how the City is vulnerable to natural hazards. • Review and update current mitigation activities to anticipate future changes in vulnerabilities. • Review and update current emergency preparedness and response activities to anticipate future changes in vulnerabilities.

HAZARD MITIGATION STRATEGY