DR-4365-HI Public Notice 002

INITIAL PUBLIC NOTICE: Oahu Coastal Community Tsumani Evacuation Sign Installation Project with Community Alert and Education Component, Honolulu County, Hawaii | HMGP-4365-007-007

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) intends to provide federal financial assistance under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program to the City and County of Honolulu Department of Emergency Management in Honolulu County, Hawaii, to provide tsunami hazard evacuation signage along the entire coastal shore of Oahu to inform residents and visitors of recommended evacuation routes and safe sites. The proposed action would mitigate impacts from tsunamis by increasing the total number of evacuated individuals by providing life-saving information to residents and visitors in the evacuation zone in the event of a tsunami. Pursuant to Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management) and FEMA’s implementing regulations at Title 44 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 9, FEMA hereby provides interested parties with a notice of its intent to carry out an action affecting a floodplain.

The purpose of the proposed action is to reduce tsunami hazards. The proposed action consists of the installation of 174 tsunami zone notification signs in beach parks on existing poles or on new or existing signposts. The proposed tsunami signage poles would be perforated, galvanized square tubing sleeves and tubing systems installed into concrete sidewalks or previously disturbed ground along roads, which would enable water to flow through the poles and, if necessary, breakaway.

Many of the proposed signs would be in the 100-year floodplain as depicted on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) Numbers 15003C0165F, 15003C0110F, 15003C0020F, 15003C0085F, and 15003C0135F, effective date September 30, 2004; FIRM Number 15003C0135F, effective date June 5, 2005; FIRM Numbers 15003C0030G, 15003C0080G, 15003C0090G, 15003C0105H, 15003C0177H, 15003C0191H, 15003C0194H, 15003C0213H,15003C0255G, 15003C0301G, 15003C0312G, 15003C0317G, 15003C0334G, 15003C0336G, 15003C0353G, 15003C0354G, 15003C0361G, 15003C0362G, 15003C0366G, 15003C0368G, 15003C0385G, 15003C0387G, 15003C0388G, 15003C0391G , and 15003C0395G, effective date January 19, 2011; FIRM Numbers 15003C0183H, 15003C0192J, and 15003C0045H, effective date November 5, 2014; and FIRM Number 15003C0369H, effective date November 15, 2014. The FIRMs show that the signs would be within the following FEMA-designated flood zones: Zone AE, an area that has a 1-percent probability of flooding every year and where predicted floodwater elevations have been established, Zone VE, an area that has a less than 1-percent probability of flooding every year, with additional hazards due to storm-induced velocity wave action, and where predicted floodwater elevations have been established, and Zone D, an area that has possible but undetermined flood hazards. A few signs would be within other FEMA-designated flood zones with a 1-percent probability of flooding each year, including one within Zone AE (floodway) and two within Zone AO (sheet flow flooding with an average depth of 1 to 3 feet).

Additional information about FEMA’s proposed action, including maps showing the potential impacts on floodplains, may be obtained by writing the FEMA Region IX Environmental Officer at FEMA, 1111 Broadway, Suite 1200, Oakland, California 94607, or fema-rix-ehp-documents@fema.dhs.gov, or calling (510) 627-7027. All requests should be received within 15 days after publication of this notice.