Mayor Craig A. Moe is pleased to announce that the City of Laurel Office of Emergency Management has cleared another hurtle in our bid towards a high rating on the Community Rating System (CRS).

The step recently completed was a Progress Report on the City’s Flood Addendum to the Prince George’s County and City of Laurel Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The CRS program is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages communities to work on floodplain management practices. Due to the City of Laurel’s proximity to the Patuxent River, being below the T. Howard Duckett Dam and having communities within the FEMA’s 100 Year Flood Plain, this requires residents and businesses to have flood insurance if purchasing a home or operating a business within that flood plain. By joining the CRS, the higher our rating, the higher discount our residents and businesses can receive through the National Flood Insurance Program.

The Office of Emergency Management recognizes how important it is to ensure our communities have a discounted flood insurance plan, so they have been working hard over the past 4+ years to get the proper information to FEMA.

Some of the projects we have worked on:

• Flood gauges along the Patuxent River, along with the addition of a High Water Mark that provides valuable information for engineers to assess the risk of flooding in our City
• National Flood Insurance Program Open Houses
• Updating the Hazard Mitigation Plan that helps local governments determine risks and vulnerabilities during a natural or man-made disaster and during this process, helps to determine the best course of action on possible mitigation efforts.
• And most recently, the drone flyovers done at Bear, Walker and Crow Branches

If you would like to review the Progress Report or learn more about the CRS program and Hazard Mitigation Plan, please visit our website at /em/mitigation/floodplain-management.