Week 4 - Hazard Mapping

Name one significant hazard in your community of residence and create a map or other presentation demonstrating its location and possible area of effect. Do not use a military facility or installation . I am looking for a community-based natural, technological, or human-source hazard. You may also want to identify Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR) that would be affected by your hazard. CIKR elements can include Police, Fire, Hospital, EMS, Water, Power, Communications, Mortuary, etc. Use online tools such as Google MyMaps and FEMA regional HIRA mapping and historical data to inform and display information on your hazard. While you are free to display your hazard and its area of effect using any online tool that can be shared in the APUS classroom, instructions are attached at the bottom of this post on how to use Google Maps. You may alternatively use another mapping service, or compile spreadsheets, lists, etc. In the forum, you will post:  a link or attachment to your map or presentation displaying your chosen hazard and its area of effect  an introduction to your map, listing key takeaways as to the vulnerability of your location to the hazard, such as the amount of population or CIKR elements affected,  your experience in using the tool,  and ways in which you can see yourself using it in your current or future profession . Week 4 – Hazard Mapping – Hello Class and Dr. Vives, I chose to outline the general area of Dover, Delaware’s flood zone hazard. Being that Delaware a coastline state, the flood zone spans the entire state from north to south, but it does have many water inlets that can cause flooding to residential or commercial entities. The 2020 U.S. Census Bureau estimated that Dover, Delaware had an estimated population of 39,000. Along with three major higher learning colleges, it has multiple police stations, Emergency Medical Service stations and its fire departments are unique as they are 100% volunteer based. The city has two power plants, DCO-Energy is a 18MegaWatt coal-fired and Garrison Energy 309MegaWatt natural gas fired generating power for over 300,000 homes. According to the FEMA disasters declared, Kent Count (Dover, DE) area there have been 16 disasters declared, to include 7 Hurricanes/Tropical storms, 4 Snowstorms, 2 Biological events, 1 Drought, 1 Severe storm and 1 flood since 1965. I missed Superstorm/Hurricane Sandy, but we have constant warnings of flooding in the area. Massive storm flooding or Hurricanes could take out the power plants and cause thousands of people to be out of power for days, flood damage to houses and businesses causing millions in repairs. I used the Google MyMaps to create my hazard area for Dover, Delaware, however I also used Delaware.gov Flood Planning Tool to have the proper idea of where the flood zones were to mark in my Google Map. It was easy enough to use to find cities, or places of interest, but when using the line draw tool, I took me a few tries to make sure I had a complete polygon shape to shade in. Deleting a point usually deleted the whole task and I had to start over. I place all my items of interest under my Dover layer, and only added a Flood Zone layer with additional notes.