Hazards

The Washoe County Emergency Management Program assists local agencies and communities in reducing the threat of disaster whenever possible through legislation, training, physical alterations or other measures which reasonably may be taken to reduce or eliminate hazard vulnerability. Washoe County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Program works tirelessly to reduce these threats and to preserve our community by creating plans and procedures to reflect operational priorities including life, safety, health, property protection, environmental protection, restoration of essential utilities, restoration of essential program functions, and coordination among appropriate stakeholders.

Washoe County and its partners have identified 13 hazards that can affect our region, including:

Wildland fire
Flooding (including closed‐basin flooding)
Earthquake
Energy emergency
Terrorism and Crime
Severe storms (including winter storm and windstorm)
Hazardous materials incident
Drought
Infectious disease
Avalanche and landslide
Transportation incident (including aircraft crash)
Radiological waste transport
Volcano

Hazard Mitigation

What is Hazard Mitigation? Hazard mitigation is any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate the long‐term risk to human life and property posed by hazards (44 CFR §201.2). Hazard mitigation activities may be implemented prior to, during, or after an event. However, it has been demonstrated that mitigation is most effective when based on an inclusive, comprehensive, long‐term plan that is developed before a disaster occurs. Additionally, hazard mitigation planning is one of the five mission areas presented in the National Preparedness Goal: Mitigation, Prevention, Protection, Response, and Recovery. The Washoe County Regional HMP is an integral piece of the region’s comprehensive approach to emergency management and is designed to align and integrate with other existing plans and emergency management activities.

View the State of Nevada's Hazard Mitigation Plan here to learn about the hazards and risks all over the state.

View a map of the what regions in the State are affected by the various hazards.