AURORA | After a 2013 that saw Colorado battered by record floods and devastating wildfires, Arapahoe County officials are asking the public for some input on disaster responses.

“Who knows better about our hazards or how it affects the citizens than the citizens themselves,” Arapahoe County Sheriff David Walcher said.

Officials are updating the county’s 2010 Hazard Mitigation Plan and last month, Walcher asked the public to chime in with their ideas about how officials can better prepare the county for future disasters like last year’s flood.

County residents can see the plan and offer input by visiting www.tinyurl.com/2014HMP.

According to a statement from the county, the goal is to find ways to make future disasters less damaging, in some cases with long-range plans to mitigate risk.

Walcher said that while the county also participates in several regional disaster planning efforts, it’s crucial that they localize disaster plans because different areas have different risks.

For example, Walcher said that while tornadoes are not a major occurrence for areas closer to the mountains, on the plains of eastern Arapahoe County they are a serious concern. Similarly, wildfires are a concern in places such as Jefferson County where mountainous areas can burn quickly, but the fire concern in Arapahoe County tends to be focused on grassland fires.

“Even in a few miles it can make a difference about what sort of hazards are there,” he said.

Last year’s flooding was one of the motivations behind asking the public for input on the disaster plan, Walcher said. According to city of Aurora estimates, road repairs from the flood cost at least $5 million alone. City officials said after the floods that Aurora received the same amount of rain in a week that it gets in an entire year, although it did little damage to infrastructure and property. Between Sept. 9 and Sept. 14, 2013, the city received 14.5 inches of rain; the city gets an average of 15 inches of
precipitation annually.

Walcher said he is looking forward to seeing responses from community members.

“Hopefully people take this seriously,” he said.