Mitigation Best Practices

Mitigation Best Practices are stories, articles or case studies about individuals, businesses or communities that undertook successful efforts to reduce or eliminate disaster risks.

They demonstrate that disaster preparedness decreases repetitive losses, financial hardship and loss of life.

FEMA seeks to inspire and educate citizens to consider mitigation options by highlighting proven practices implemented by others in their homes and communities. It is our hope that visitors to this library find relatable and informative techniques to reduce their risk and eliminate hazards.

Explore mitigation planning examples on the Mitigation Planning Success Stories story map. It highlights success stories on plan implementation, plan integration, outreach, engagement and equity. If you have a success story worth sharing, please email us.

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The City of Wilson is a quiet community of 22,000 about 60 miles inland from the coast of North Carolina. In 1996, Hurricane Floyd destroyed 400 homes. Three years later, the city partnered with the North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) and the FEMA to acquire many of the damaged structures with Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) funds.
The year 2017 was difficult for most Puerto Ricans. The island was already going through a financial crisis, when in September, Hurricane María, a Category 4 storm, brought flooding that wreaked havoc on the island.  There were areas impacted that had never flooded before. Millions in real and personal property losses. Without flood insurance, the cost to recover can be extensive. Most residents and businesses must pay out of pocket or take out loans to replace damaged items.
When rain and a high tide event in 1999 brought significant damage to their properties, residents of Oakland Park, Florida realized their current drainage system needed serious improvement. With nearly 400 home sites in the Lloyd Estates and Sleepy Hollow neighborhoods affected, city officials researched solutions to prevent future flooding.
Around 2010, the Murray School District decided to mitigate against future earthquakes and other natural disasters by undertaking a multiyear retrofit program that brought all its campuses up to current earthquake safety standards.
Kathy Valentine Hall, a marine biologist, and expert in sea turtles, decided to build back stronger after losing her wood-framed home to Hurricane María in September 2017. With help from FEMA’s Individual Assistance Program, a U.S. Small Business Administration low-interest disaster loan, her life savings and help from friends, Kathy built a hurricane-resistant home. She used mitigation measures in the new concrete structure, following building codes and using proper materials.
In 2008, Pontilly neighborhood homeowners brought forth ideas and designs for a new flood management system to New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA) and the city. The new design would hold water where it falls, giving the existing drainage system time to follow its natural drainage process without flooding the neighborhood.
A deadly tornado struck Joplin, Missouri one Sunday in May 2011 killing 161. The tornado destroyed or damaged many of the 14 schools in the Joplin School District where more than 7,000 students attend classes. At the time, there were no safe rooms for students to seek shelter in Joplin.  In 2023, there are saferooms now. Since 2011, the Joplin School District has built 14 school safe rooms with federal assistance.
Flooding sparked the need to design and develop the Cedar River Corridor Plan. As part of the plan, King County completed restoration at Rainbow Bend.
The City of Mandeville, located in St. Tammany Parish, decided to commit to helping residents escape troublesome flood waters. Finally tiring of the constant issue of a repeated damage-repair cycle, city officials decided to act by adopting high regulatory standards for the elevation of homes and businesses.
The Wasatch Fault poses one of the most catastrophic natural threat scenarios in the United States. Despite the lack of high magnitude earthquakes in recent history, the Wasatch Front has a 43% chance of experiencing a 6.75 or greater magnitude earthquake in the next 50 years. The City of Salt Lake has partnered with the state to fund life-safety level retrofits to unreinforced masonry (URM) homes through the “Fix the Bricks” program, increasing the likelihood of an occupant’s ability to survive a damaging earthquake.
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