The Northwest Hills Council of Governments is preparing an update to the “Litchfield Hills Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan” prepared in 2006. A draft of the updated section prepared for our town is available for review by clicking here. The NHCOG is accepting public comments on the draft report through the end of July.

The purpose of the region’s Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan is to identify measures that can be implemented today to lessen the severity of a natural hazard that might strike tomorrow. In recent years, the 11-town Litchfield Hills Region has been hard hit by severe winter storms, high winds, and flooding. These three types of events represent the major natural hazards of concern in the region. All three events can pose a threat to public safety, and the buildings and infrastructure in the regional area.

Comments on the draft town plan section can be directed to our municipal Emergency Management Director or Rick Lynn from the Northwest Hills Council of Governments at rlynn@northwesthillscog.org (860-491-9884). The individual town reports for the 11-town region, along with a regional analysis, will be compiled into a final report for submission to DEEP and FEMA. In addition to identifying priority hazard mitigation measures, the report is required by FEMA in order for the town to qualify for pre-disaster mitigation funding.