Flooding is the most frequent severe weather event and the costliest natural disaster. The county has launched a new website that offers information about avoiding frequently flooded roads, flood insurance, steps people can take to prepare for potential flooding, and how to report flooding and draining issues. Montgomery County is also developing a comprehensive flood management plan to better understand the causes and impacts of flooding—and potential strategies to eliminate or minimize the risks of flooding.

As part of this process, we want to hear from you! Share your thoughts about flooding and about your experience with flooding in the county. This short survey will take about 5 minutes to complete and you can take the survey now.

In June, the County announced a new high-tech flood sensor program to provide earlier alerts to residents about potential flooding, pictured to the left. 

Learn more about flooding in Montgomery County here.

The County has released its first Climate Action Plan Annual Report, a work plan detailing Fiscal Year 2022 accomplishments and Fiscal Year 2023 plans to combat climate change. The report highlights 75 accomplishments in the first year since the Climate Action Plan was released in June 2021.  

Ever since October 1992, the country has been celebrating Energy Action Month – this year we are focusing all of our efforts on ELECTRIFY EVERYTHING! Once you electrify your home will be more comfortable, your indoor and outdoor air quality will be healthier, and your monthly bills will be lower.  

We will be celebrating every week in October with a different theme, check out the themes for this year:

Electrify Your Ride – Week of October 3 -9, 2022
Electrify Your Home – Week of October 10 -16, 2022
Electrify Your Kitchen – Week of October 17 -23, 2022
Electrify Your Lawn – Week of October 24 – 30, 2022

Learn more about Electrify Everything here!

The analysis, conducted by Emerald Cities Collaborative and its subcontractors, Inclusive Economics and Health Care Without Harm, focuses on the need to actively align the County workforce and small business ecosystems. Daryl Wright, Emerald Cities Collaborative’s chief strategy officer, and project manager, said decarbonizing the building sector alone, a top priority in the County’s “Climate Action Plan,” would generate an estimated 2,600 to 3,360 jobs per year through 2050. Recommendations in the report include, establishing a Climate Action Business Incubator program for diverse contractors with specific focus on community serving projects, developing a food aggregation hub for the collection, storage, processing, cold storage and distribution of sustainably produced local food, and developing a high road training partnership with WorkSource Montgomery, Montgomery College, labor organizations and community-based organizations to address the labor shortage and create accessible, high-quality jobs for underserved residents

Read the entire ‘High Road Economic Inclusion Framework for an Equitable Climate-Ready Economy’ report here!

Poolesville Green held the 2022 National Drive Electric Week (NDEW) Poolesville Day Electric Vehicle Show on September 17th for the community to learn more about electric vehicles (EVs) from real EV owners, dealerships, and manufacturers. At the event, Retired U.S. Army Rebecca Gutierrez-Goodum was awarded a 2022 Nissan Leaf from Wells Fargo, Nissan of Bowie, and the Military Warriors Support Foundation Transportation 4 Heroes! 

Learn more about the 30th Annual Poolesville Day Celebration here.

Lots of exciting opportunities available! Check out My Green Montgomery’s Green Job Portal for climate and sustainability jobs, including open positions with the Montgomery County Green Bank, City of Takoma Park , USAID, and many more.

💧 This month’s news topic is All Things Water which includes how climate impacts flooding, hurricanes, and even our water utilities, as well as solutions like wetland restoration and recycled wastewater!

To read

• Federal Flood Maps Are Outdated Because of Climate Change, FEMA Director Says – Smithsonian Magazine
• In First Study of Pakistan’s Floods, Scientists See Climate Change at Work – New York Times
• Explainer: How climate change is fueling Hurricanes - Reuters
• US eyes wetland restoration as hedge against climate change - Greenwire
• Climate Change is spurring a movement to build stormproof homes – Washington Post
• Climate perils mount for America’s water utilities – Energy&Enviornment News

To listen

• Amid climate change, water managers see promise in recycled wastewater - NPR
• Adapting to chronic flooding: Survivors’ Stories and actions they take! - America Adapts