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2024 Hennepin County All -Jurisdiction Hazard Mitigation Plan <br />Volume 2 — Hazard Inventory <br />5t fO'N I HAZARD CATEGORIES AND INCLUSIONS <br />1.1.1. Risk Assessment Process <br />Risk from natural hazards is a combination of hazard and vulnerability. The risk assessment process <br />measures the potential loss to a community, including loss of life, personal injury, property damage and <br />economic injury resulting from a hazard event. The risk assessment process allows a community to better <br />understand their potential risk and associated vulnerability to natural, intentional human -caused and <br />unintentional human -caused hazards. This information provides the framework for a community to <br />develop and prioritize mitigation strategies and plans to help reduce both the risk and vulnerability from <br />future hazard events. <br />This section describes the natural hazards that have had historical impact within Hennepin County and <br />assesses their associated risk with future impact. There are 19 hazards that have affected Hennepin <br />County and are identified and defined in terms of their range of magnitude, spectrum of consequences, <br />potential for cascading effects, geographic scope of hazard, historical occurrences, and likelihood of future <br />occurrences. There were no hazards eliminated in this revision TABLE 1.1A was created to meet FEMA <br />guidance. <br />TABLE 1.1A Bla <br />There were no hazards eliminated in this revision <br />In addition, a thorough geospatial risk analysis was conducted using locally available parcel data and <br />building values. Further, maps were provided where hazard boundaries and data existed. These <br />improvements help to provide a more accurate assessment of risk in the county to develop mitigation <br />actions. <br />1.1.2. FEMA Risk Assessment Tool Limitations <br />In 1997, FEMA developed the standardized Hazards U.S., or HAZUS model to estimate losses caused by <br />earthquakes and identify areas that face the highest risk and potential for loss. HAZUS was later expanded <br />into a multi -hazard methodology, HAZUS-MH, with new models for estimating potential losses from wind <br />(hurricanes) and flood (riverine and coastal) hazards. <br />HAZUS-MH is a Geographic Information System (GIS) based software program used to support risk <br />assessments, mitigation planning, and emergency planning and response. It provides a wide range of <br />inventory data, such as demographics, building stock, critical facility, transportation and utility lifeline, <br />and multiple models to estimate potential losses from natural disasters. The program maps and displays <br />hazard data and the results of damage and economic loss estimates for building and infrastructure. <br />However, due to the limitations of the software (only estimates losses for earthquakes, hurricanes, and <br />floods), Hennepin County did not use this software in 2018 or this new update in 2024. To estimate losses, <br />Hennepin County Emergency Management used the Hennepin County Critical Infrastructure and Facilities <br />Critical Facility Index (CFI) Priority Ranking Aid. This CFI was provided to municipalities, Hennepin County <br />Departments, and special jurisdictions to assist in identifying critical infrastructure and facilities in their <br />5 <br />