Shifting the Focus to Proactive Community Investments through Collaborative Technical Assistance: A Western Maryland Case Study

ABSTRACT ONLY - FEMA is working to shift the focus from reactive disaster spending toward hazard mitigation based, proactive investment to create resilient communities. Extreme weather has caused over $600 billion in damages over the last five years in the United States alone. As climate change increases the threat of natural hazards, mitigation efforts can help communities reduce future disasters' effects on lives, property, and the economy. This holds especially true for communities with dam infrastructure. FEMA's National Dam Safety Program partnered with the National Integration Center to offer the Dam Safety Collaborative Technical Assistance (CTA) Program.
In 2020, Maryland Dam Safety applied for the FEMA CTA program on behalf of a community located in a rural setting in Western Maryland. In the 1960's, six high hazard flood control dams were constructed around Oakland, Maryland as part of the SCS/NRCS PL-566 flood control program. Prior to their construction, Oakland experienced flooding regularly.
Currently, there are limited resources and expertise available to the town for the upkeep of the dams and the development/exercise of Emergency Action Plans (EAPs).
The CTA program helps communities at risk for flooding due to operational discharge or dam-related infrastructure failure gain a better understanding of the consequences of dam-related emergencies and to develop risk-informed plans.
The CTA was expanded to include the counties of Garrett and Allegany in Western Maryland,. Garrett County is home to Maryland's two tallest dams, the Jenning's Randolph Dam (296-foot-tall rockfill dam) and the Savage River Dam (184-foot-tall earth and rockfill embankment dam). Both dams were originally conceived to alleviate downstream flooding along the Potomac River, but now present significant challenges from an emergency management perspective. The inundation area for both dams encompass the Potomac River, which serves as the border of Maryland and West Virginia. Any successful implementation of an EAP would require significant coordination between various counties, in two different states.
The Western Maryland CTA worked to address the challenges faced by the dam owners, local emergency managers, and State Dam Safety Officials to effectively communicate the risks associated with controlled and uncontrolled releases from these dams, enhance existing EAPs, and exercise EAPs. The CTA provided rural dam owners with access to national experts and engaged them in a facilitated planning process to collaborate with community partners to achieve the goal of increased preparedness for dam-related hazards.