FEMA Region X – Risk MAP Discovery Interview
Lower Willamette - Tualatin Watersheds
Washington County, Oregon
August 22, 2012; 10:00am Pacific Time
Washington County
Rocky Brown – Engineering Associate/Land Use
Richard Crucchiola – GIS Supervisor
Mary Davis – Emergency Management Coordinator
Steve Muir – Emergency Management Supervisor
James (Jim) Perkins – Senior Structural Engineer
Rick Raetz – Principal Engineer & Floodplain Administrator
Ross Van Loo – Senior Planner
Todd Watkins – Senior Engineer
Clean Water Services
Andy Braun – Capital Program Manager
Jadene Torrent Stensland – Senior Engineer
FEMA Region X
Brett Holt – Mitigation Planner
Oregon DLCD
Steve Lucker – State Risk MAP Coordinator
STARR (FEMA Contractor)
Josha Crowley – Region X Service Center Lead
Becca Croft – Interviewer
Jason Sidorski – GIS Specialist
Jennifer Anticknap – Recorder
The following information was collected during the Interview. Unless otherwise noted, all comments are
from Washington County representatives.
I.
Contacts
 The contact list for Washington County was updated and contacts added.
STARR (J. Sidorski) reviewed the GIS data that has been collected for the Washington County and
explained the types of additional data that could be beneficial to the project: parks, environmentally
sensitive areas, critical habitats, building footprints, parcels, topographic data (LiDAR, etc.).
II.
III.
Topography, LiDAR, and GIS
 R. Crucchiola is the GIS contact for Washington County. The County is willing to share
their datasets.
Planning
 Washington County has a Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP), adopted in 2010 and expires in
2015. The County will start preparing for the update about 3 years before the plan
expires.
Risk MAP Discovery Interview – Lower Willamette - Tualatin Watersheds
Washington County – August 22, 2012
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IV.
Page 2 of 5
Mitigation priorities are not ranked in the HMP. The HMP was written more generally
for flexibility and no specific mitigation projects are identified.
 Washington County has a mitigation committee that meets 2-4 times per year and looks
at potential and ongoing projects, strategies for going forward, and reviews the plan and
set future direction.
 Washington County has a County Emergency Response and Short Term Recovery plan.
 Washington County has received grants for mitigation planning.
 Currently there is a bridge replacement project in progress and expected to be
completed in the next six months. The project is funded through hazard mitigation
funds. There are no other active mitigation projects in the county right now.
 The County has elevated 2 homes with hazard mitigation grant money.
 The County administered mitigation grant funds to the City of North Plains for culvert
replacement/upgrades on 314th Avenue (4-5 years ago).
 Washington County has identified a potential mitigation project along Cedar Mill Creek
– North Johnson Creek for a detention pond. The paperwork was prepared about 3
years ago and never submitted. Clean Water Services was looking for a partner but
timing and other financial considerations did not permit funding partners at the time.
The County would like to move forward with the project in the future.
Earthquakes
 There are a number of roads, buildings and bridges of concern for earthquake damage.
 Washington County noted a number of studies have been done to assess earthquake
risk and/or identify potential mitigation projects.
 The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has done analysis of their
bridges (Seismic Vulnerability of Oregon State Highway Bridges, 2009) and most
would fail in earthquake, a small number has been retrofitted. The County
noted the data is likely available from ODOT.
 The Oregon Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission (OSSPAC) is in the
coordinating the Oregon Resilience Plan with government agencies, academia,
business and professional communities. There are eight task groups to address
the state’s critical facilities and its energy, water/wastewater, transportation,
and telecommunication systems, mitigate tsunami risk and enhance business
continuity. Clean Water Services is involved in water and waste water utilities
portion of study. The plan and recommendations are due to be delivered to the
Oregon Legislated Assembly by February 28, 2013. Interim report due out next
month.
 DOGAMI developed a statewide report (Statewide seismic needs assessment:
Implementation of Oregon 2005 Senate Bill 2 relating to public safety,
earthquakes, and seismic rehabilitation of public buildings, 2007) looking at
earthquake risk for wildfire stations, law enforcement facilities, schools,
hospitals, etc. The study was also used to help determine mitigation projects.
Risk MAP Discovery Interview – Lower Willamette - Tualatin Watersheds
Washington County – August 22, 2012
Page 3 of 5
Washington County believes the City of Beaverton may have received funds to
structurally retrofit a school.
 Washington County also mentioned the Bureau of Reclamation has inundation
maps for Skoggins Dam and Haggs Lake. The study has recently been redone
due to new dam safety standards and new inundation maps may exist. The
County will provide a contact at the Bureau of Reclamation.
V.
VI.
VII.
Wildfires
 Washington County has experienced significant wildfires in the last 150 years. The
Wildland-Urban Interface area is at greatest risk for wildfire hazard. Fire stations in the
interface zone are considered critical infrastructure.
 Washington County has adopted a Wildfire Protection Plan that is referenced in the
Hazard Mitigation Plan.
 There is a steering group made up of fire districts and fire officials who develop
and review the plan.
 R. Crucchiola is the contact for the data layers presented in the Wildfire Protection Plan.
Landslides
 Washington County defers discussion of landslide hazard to the DOGAMI dataset which
contains historical landslide information covering the county.
 Washington County noted that DOGAMI is the process of doing landslide risk analysis
using LiDAR and would defer to that dataset when available for landslide risk
assessment.
Severe Storms
 Severe storms pose a significant risk in Washington County. There have been several
sizable storms. Four years ago the county experiences a signification winter storm.
 Winter storms impact roads and cause some power outages.
 The County also experiences significant wind storms.
 Wind storms produce largest damages to power lines.
 For major storms power outages could last 2-3 days. There have been projects by local
power companies to move lines underground to prevent power loss during storm
events.
 There has not been a need to shelter residents before, during, or after storm events.
 Washington County does have a list of shelters and works with the Red Cross to
establish. There are 50-70 possible shelter sites; shelter opening is dependent on storm
event and location(s) impacted by the event.
 Washington County does NOT want shelter information released to public to
avoid confusion to residents in the event a shelter does not open and residents
may have been expecting it. Do not include shelters as a layer on Washington
County maps/data. Instead, publish location of schools. Big churches could
also be included on the maps. The County does internally review the shelter list
to make sure it’s part of County plan.
Risk MAP Discovery Interview – Lower Willamette - Tualatin Watersheds
Washington County – August 22, 2012
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VIII.
IX.
X.
Page 4 of 5
Washington County works closely with National Weather Service ahead of storms. The
County publishes/announces the events to other Emergency Management partners and
uses the website, local media and social media such as Facebook and Twitter, to get the
word out to residents.
Flooding
 Washington County is using the preliminary DFIRM data as the best available data.
 R. Raetz noted that Washington County is working with D. Ratté outside of the
Discovery process to address flooding issues and the County does not need to go into
further details regarding the flooding issues at this time.
 Washington County has a number of repetitive loss areas; they get the data through
FEMA. The HMP identifies the repetitive loss areas in general terms. The Cedar Mill
Creek/Johnson Creek area is one of the areas of higher repetitive losses.
 Other Areas of Concern:
 Aloha and Cedar Mill/Johnson Creek— this area has pockets of flooding. This
area is also relatively flat and local storm water system has trouble discharging
into the streams. Flooding is mostly yard and street flooding. The area was
developed before land use planning and streams were channelized. There are
no natural channels through this area and current channels do not
accommodate flow. Impervious clay soils and built up areas contribute to runoff problems.
 Downtown Tualatin – In 1996, downtown Tualatin was under 10 feet of water
(87-year flood). The County confirms best available floodplains match the
flooding in Tualatin, as was noted on the City of Tualatin call.
 A large area around Gaston.
 An area outside of the City of Beaverton with inadequate/non-existent drainage.
The local stream does not have the capacity to accept discharge. Studies have
been done on the viability of mitigating this issue but have not produced a
workable solution that does not flood structures. This is a possible mitigation
project to look at feasibility of underground detention.
 There are areas of Washington County planned for development (not identified) but
that development is currently on hold. Most of the planned development is located
outside of floodplain.
Levees
 Washington County has levee issues and continues to discuss those with D. Ratté
outside of the Discovery process. There is no additional information about levees to add
to the Discovery discussion at this time.
Environmentally Sensitive Areas
 Washington County has environmentally sensitive areas mapped and is willing to share
the data.
 Washington County has regulations in place to protect environmentally sensitive areas.
Risk MAP Discovery Interview – Lower Willamette - Tualatin Watersheds
Washington County – August 22, 2012
XI.
XII.
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Communications and Outreach
 R. Raetz is the floodplain administrator for Washington County.
 Washington County has a separate floodplain permitting process. The floodplain
ordinance complies with National and State standards.
 The County would like additional information regarding floodplain management
training.
 The County website is a source of information regarding general preparedness and
hazards to the residents. The website links to pages like Flood Smart. The County also
passes out information at public gatherings such as the County Fair. They also publish
public service announcements.
 The County uses social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, to reach county residents.
 The media has done good job of getting the word out on the subduction/earthquake
hazard off the coast.
 The County is interested in outreach materials and tools.
 Washington County has a Public Information officer gathering, it is an informal meeting
where the status of this project could be reported.
Other
 Washington County has requested an advance copy of the meeting minutes to review.