Draft plan identifies Island County’s biggest disaster risks

Published 1:30 am Friday, July 31, 2026

Earthquakes, severe weather, landslides and flooding are identified as the highest-priority risks facing Island County in a draft update of the county’s Multi-Jurisdiction Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Following an 11-month process funded by a FEMA grant, a planning coalition of officials from municipalities and special purpose districts completed the draft update. The effort was led by Island County Emergency Management with technical support from Bridgeview Consulting LLC, according to a news release.

The public can read the draft at www.islandcountywa.gov/170/Department-of-Emergency-Management and provide feedback.

The coalition was formed in response to federal mandates in the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 and to “create a uniform hazard mitigation strategy that can be consistently applied to the defined planning area,” the press release states.

The update shows how the perception of risk has been updated from 2020, when only earthquakes and severe weather were ranked as a high level of significance or concern. The planning partners were Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Langley, the hospital, Island Transit and the four fire districts in the county. Of the partners on Whidbey, all ranked earthquakes as the top priority except Oak Harbor, which rated severe weather as the first priority.

The draft also includes a series of hazard mitigation action plans, some of which already exist and others that would be new. New proposals include seeking grant funding to construct a new emergency operations center; working with Island County Public Health and Human Services to develop an information bank identifying individuals with access and functional needs in the event of an emergency; working with municipal planning partners to develop a plan for prioritizing water if shortages become an issue; and implementing cost-effective measures to address vulnerabilities to climate change and related hazards.

The draft explains that the document has been significantly updated and rewritten from the 2020 version. It includes, for example, more accurate tsunami modeling based on new state, U.S. Geological Survey and FEMA studies; the most current FEMA Flood Hazard Maps; and the latest Census numbers and assessor’s data.

The public can provide input on the draft plan to Rachel Schwinden, Emergency Management coordinator at r.schwinden@islandcountywa.gov or Beverly O’Dea, project manager with Bridgeview Consulting at Bevodea@bridgeviewconsulting.org. The comment period is open until Aug. 16.