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Mitigation Grant Program funds . This plan was developed following the guidel nes of the DMA2K . THE PROCESS The process by which the LMS was completed involved • describing current community conditions ; • identifying the potential hazards ; • assessing each community's vulnerabilities to those specific hazards ; • proposing initiatives to reduce these vulnerabilities ; • developing evaluation criteria to rank mitigation projects regardless of jurisdiction ; and • establishing procedures that will be needed if the LMS Program is to retain long -term viability. All of these aspects are integrated into this unified LMS document, which has been provided to Indian River County Department of Emergency Services , FINDINGS Some of the key findings pertinent to Indian River County include the following : • Flooding and hurricanes occur the most frequently , place themost people at risk , and produce the greatest amount of damage of all the natural hazards v,,,W faced by the County. • While wildland fires do not occur with the frequency of flooding and hurricanes , major drought periods over the past several years have made the County extremely vulnerable to wildland fires . Exposure to the impacts of wildland fire continues to increase as new development pushes further west into wildland areas . • Agriculture is an important component of the local economy ; therefore , drought and agricultural pests and disease are as important tot the agriculture community as beach erosion and flooding are to the coastal communities , • While a major focus of mitigation is on retrofitting , the most effective time to mitigate is before development orders are approved . Adding hazard mitigation requirements may add to the cost of development , bu this cost is relatively small . Following a disaster, the cost of recovery and redevelopment can be enormous . Recovery cost tends to become public cost that local governments must assume . • While all jurisdictions in Indian River County are in the National Flood Insurance Program , not all eligible local governments have participated in the Community Rating System ( CRS ) Program or the Flood Mitigation Assistance ( FMA) Program , to the maximum extent possible . Having a strong CRS Program reduces the cost of flood insurance premiums to Indian River County residents , and the FMA Program is a major source of fut ding to assist in retrofitting flooding problems . • Properties on the barrier island are susceptible to both flooding and wind - related storm damage . There are a number of important public facilities ES-2