2011 New York State Standard Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan
New York State’s large size, varying climate, and large population make hazard mitigation essential for sustained quality of life for the citizen of the State. Hazard mitigation begins with hazard identification.
Natural Hazards: Flood, Hurricane, Tornado, Winter Storm (Severe), Hail Storm, Wildfire, Drought, Extreme Temperatures (Heat and Cold), Earthquake, Landslide, Subsidence
Natural Hazards: Flood, Hurricane, Tornado, Winter Storm (Severe), Hail Storm, Wildfire, Drought, Extreme Temperatures (Heat and Cold), Earthquake, Landslide, Subsidence
New York State's Hazard Profile clearly adheres to criteria originally created by Tobin and Montz in their book on Natural Hazards. Tobin and Montz clarify that physical events such as earthquakes and hurricanes do not constitute hazards. The hazard becomes apparent when communities and human lives are impacted. In adherence with this, New York State classifies their hazards based on the likelihood of the event occuring, the impact on the population, and the property within the Jurisdiction.
The visual hazard profile created uses criteria developed by Tobin and Montz, such as speed of onset, duration, and spatial extent, to depict hazards in New York State. The ranking of hazards for the state, the first color line in the image uses all seven of the Tobin and Montz criteria depicted to determine which hazards will require the most mitigation specifically for New York.
As shown, a major earthquake would likely affect a large portion of the state, yet it is not a very likely occurance in New York. Therefore, earthquakes are ranked fairly low on the overall scale of mitigation importance. On the other hand, severe winter storms, shown in purple appear high on each scale of criteria. For this reason, severe winer storms appear at the top of the over ranking, meaning New York should focus most of its mitigation efforts on this hazard.
Similarly, floods, depicted in blue, appear on each color bar in the middle or towards to top of the scale. They are very likely to occur in any given year because of the shear number of rivers, lakes, and mountains in the region, and they are likely to cause significant damage to the built environment in the case of an event. For this reason, floods appear as the second most important hazard requiring mitigation for New York State.
The visual hazard profile created uses criteria developed by Tobin and Montz, such as speed of onset, duration, and spatial extent, to depict hazards in New York State. The ranking of hazards for the state, the first color line in the image uses all seven of the Tobin and Montz criteria depicted to determine which hazards will require the most mitigation specifically for New York.
As shown, a major earthquake would likely affect a large portion of the state, yet it is not a very likely occurance in New York. Therefore, earthquakes are ranked fairly low on the overall scale of mitigation importance. On the other hand, severe winter storms, shown in purple appear high on each scale of criteria. For this reason, severe winer storms appear at the top of the over ranking, meaning New York should focus most of its mitigation efforts on this hazard.
Similarly, floods, depicted in blue, appear on each color bar in the middle or towards to top of the scale. They are very likely to occur in any given year because of the shear number of rivers, lakes, and mountains in the region, and they are likely to cause significant damage to the built environment in the case of an event. For this reason, floods appear as the second most important hazard requiring mitigation for New York State.