LTC 216-2011 CMB Designation as StormReady Community i
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NO. LTC # LETTEk TO QfP • ; ,t. ; SIQN_
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TO Mayor Matti Herrera Bower and Members of the City Commission... .
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FROM: Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager
DATE: August 25, 2011
SUBJECT: City of Miami Beach Designation as a StormReady Community
The purpose of this LTC (Letter to Commission) is to inform you and the members of the City
Commission that on August 12, 2011, the City of Miami Beach became the first municipality in
South Florida to receive the National Weather Service (NWS) designation as a StormReady
Community. This recognition is valid for three (3) years, and expires on August 16, 2013.
The NWS designed StormReady to help communities better prepare for and mitigate the effects of
extreme weather - related events. StormReady is a nationwide community preparedness program that
uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle all types of severe weather.
The program encourages communities to take a proactive approach to improving local hazardous
weather operations by providing emergency managers with clear -cut guidelines on how to improve
their hazardous weather operations.
To be considered officially StormReady, a community must meet the following criteria:
• Establish a 24 -hour warning point and emergency operations center;
• Have several ways to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public;
• Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally;
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and,
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and
holding emergency exercises.
The City of Miami Beach is the only StormReady certified municipality in South Florida. Other
StormReady communities in Florida include Captiva, Deltona, Indian Harbour Beach, Lake Alfred,
New Smyrna Beach, Oldsmar, Orlando, Sanibel, and Treasure Island.
More importantly, this designation brings added value to our community, as we strive to enhance our
Community Rating System (CRS) of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). A credit point's
increase could mean potential insurance premium savings for our community. StormReady
designation makes the City eligible for 25 additional points for our CRS program.
The NFIP is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain
management activities that exceed the minimum NFIP requirements. Flood insurance premium rates
are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk, as direct result of our community actions, City of
Miami Beach is currently at a class 7 of CRS, this currently results in annual saving of $3,647,910 to
Miami Beach residents and businesses.
To mark this achievement, the National Weather Service will present the City with the StormReady
certification at the September 14 2011 Commission Meeting. George Navarro, the City's
Emergency Manager will provide additional information regarding the award of the certificate and the
NFIP.
If you ve any questions, please feel free to contact me.
JMG /D /GN
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