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Ramsey County Multijurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan | July 2012 4-1 Section 4 RISK AND VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT 4.1 Updates to the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment There have been several updates to the risk and vulnerability assessment since the Ramsey County HMP of 2007 was approved. Many of the updates included in this section are updates of events that have occurred in the past five years and updated versions of graphics. There are some updates that change the way that hazards are profiled in the Ramsey County HMP.  The previous version of the Ramsey County HMP included severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hailstorms, and lightning under one section titled “Summer Storms”. In the updated version of the plan, each of these hazards has been broken out into their own hazard profile section to reflect the notion that there are multiple forms of summer severe weather. The Ramsey County Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee determined that severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, hailstorms, and lightning should be classified as individual hazards in this plan update.  The identified hazard “winter storm” has been reclassified as “severe winter storms”. Minnesota is a climate that is experienced in handling winter weather frequently. Although all winter weather poses a risk to Ramsey County, severe winter storms produce a higher vulnerability level for emergency response capabilities.  In the 2007 Ramsey County HMP, fire was identified as a hazard. In the update, this hazard has been removed and only wildfires are profiled. The vulnerabilities posed by fires in the County, historically, only pose a risk to individual structures and do not threaten countywide areas. County municipalities have robust emergency response capabilities for responding to fires, including full-time, part-time, and volunteer fire departments to control this hazard. Wildfires are unpredictable and their severity can vary depending on wind speed and drought. Therefore, wildfires have been profiled and fires have been omitted in this plan update.  “Infectious diseases” have been renamed “epidemics/pandemics” in the updated plan. Outbreaks are included in this section in the plan, although in the 2007 version, outbreaks were a separately identified risk.  The following hazards were added to this version of the HMP due to an occurrence over the past five years and/or recommendations from the public during public meetings:  Rockslides  Energy/fuel shortage  Aircraft accidents  Civil disturbance  Invasive species  Critical facilities/infrastructure loss  The following profiles were omitted from the plan due to low vulnerability and low occurrence in Ramsey County in the past five years:  Water contamination