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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 and county of Honolulu, Hawai‘i, held public meetings during their 2019 hazard mitigation plan update. The city tapped into local and regional networks to share the messaging and boost public attendance. Informal community meetings were held to discuss the plan; a continental breakfast, bento box lunch and small group breakout sessions were offered. The plan update committee also refreshed its messaging methods
Three separate hurricanes affected the same area of Jefferson Parish between 2005- 2021. After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, FEMA mitigation funds for $2.3 million were used to elevate 23 individual homes. After Hurricane Isaac in 2012, FEMA published a loss avoidance study. This original loss avoidance study has been updated after Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, has a long history with flood-related disasters and hazard mitigation planning. Decades ago, a George Washington University study identified Tulsa as the most frequently flooded city in the United States.
Bourne, Massachusetts, is the gateway to other Cape Cod towns. It spans the Cape Cod Canal and has 55 miles of coastline. It uniquely faces Cape Cod Bay to the northeast and Buzzards Bay to the west. The town faces many risks and vulnerabilities from coastal flooding, erosion and severe storms. Water quality is also a serious concern for the town estuaries.
The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has seen the recent impacts from flooding events on their wild rice which are a cultural and important natural resource for the tribe. The tribe has invested in several planning efforts over the years to help mitigate/reduce the flooding risks to the wild rice lakes. Recently, the Grand Portage Ojibwe people reached out to Cook County, Minnesota and collaborated with other neighboring tribes to integrate their hazard mitigation, wetland and climate adaptation plans.
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