Risk-assessment baseline packet (county-level sections from Windsor County). Town FIPS 5002708275, Windsor County. Release 2026-10, data as of 2026-09-30.
Summary
Plan status as of 2026-09-30: Expired on 2025-11-17. Plan: Town of Bridgewater, Vermont Local Hazard Mitigation Plan (FEMA plan 106943), approved 2020-11-18.
Sections B1-a, B1-b, B1-c, B1-d, B1-e, B2-a and B2-b use Windsor County data (county FIPS 50027; each heading says so); the plan clock, B1-f and B2-c are for Bridgewater town.
Since the plan was approved on 2020-11-18: 5 new hazard declarations (4 incidents) and 113 NOAA Storm Events records (county-level); details under "What changed since your last plan".
Highest expected annual loss (FEMA National Risk Index, modeled total; see B1-a): Inland Flooding ($19,395,729 a year), Cold Wave ($1,347,723) and Heat Wave ($1,027,538).
The packet's tables are organized by the items of FEMA's Local Mitigation Plan Review Tool, Element B (B1-a to B2-c); the summaries below follow the same order.
What the packet contains
Sections in FEMA checklist order; each heading names the review item its tables support. Full tables are in the downloads above.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-a Hazard identification
County-level: Windsor County.
15 of the 18 National Risk Index hazards apply here.
Not applicable to this county per NRI, with no federal declaration and no Storm Events record since 1996: coastal flooding, tsunami and volcanic activity. That is the evidence for leaving them out of the plan.
Highest expected annual loss (NRI, modeled): Inland Flooding, Cold Wave and Heat Wave.
Not covered by NRI (local data needed): dam failure (incl. upstream dams); levee failure; flash flood as its own subtype; ice jams; debris flows; erosion (riverine and coastal); land subsidence and sinkholes; expansive soils.
The state hazard mitigation plan also lists hazards for this county; FEMA asks the plan to explain any hazard it leaves out.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-b Hazard location
County-level: Windsor County.
- Avalanche, Earthquake, Hurricane, Landslide, Tornado and Wildfire vary within the county; the packet lists the highest-rated census tracts for each.
- Cold Wave, Drought, Hail, Heat Wave, Ice Storm, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather: affects the whole county; national data give no location within it.
- Inland Flooding: the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) is the required location source for flooding. See the FEMA Flood Map Service Center (https://msc.fema.gov) for this county.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-c Hazard extent
County-level: Windsor County.
Storm Events records for 11 of the 20 NOAA event-type groups mapped to the 18 hazards, with the scale, observed range and worst recorded event for each; the others say which local data are needed.
Worst recorded tornado, hail and thunderstorm wind (the three event types on record since the 1950s; the packet has every group):
- Hail: 1.75 in hail, 2012-05-29; same size also recorded on 1955-07-23, 1975-08-03, 1980-08-01, 2012-05-28
- Thunderstorm Wind: 100 kt (115 mph) estimated gust, Thunderstorm Wind, 2003-07-21, 1 direct injury
- Tornado: F2 tornado, 1966-08-11, 1 mi path length (whole path, pre-1996), 33 yd wide, $25,000 property; crops not recorded (1966 dollars); same rating, casualties and property damage also recorded on 1955-10-24, 1962-07-09
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-d Previous occurrences
County-level: Windsor County (federal declarations, statewide declarations and Storm Events history).
Federal declarations for this area: 27 declarations covering 23 separate hazard incidents counted in this packet; each with type, dates and county Public Assistance dollars.
New since the last plan (approved 2020-11-18): EM-3609-VT, DR-4762-VT, DR-4720-VT, EM-3595-VT and EM-3567-VT.
2 statewide declarations listed separately.
Hazards with no Storm Events record and no federal declaration are stated as such (7 of 18).
Storm Events history: 688 records (notable ones in the PDF, all of them in the Excel file).
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-e Probability of future events
County-level: Windsor County.
FEMA annualized frequency (modeled) for each hazard, with a descriptor from a scale defined in the packet.
- Highly likely: Hail, Landslide, Lightning, Strong Wind and Winter Weather
- Likely: Cold Wave, Heat Wave, Inland Flooding and Tornado
- Possible: Avalanche, Hurricane and Ice Storm
Historical frequency by intensity band (tornado, hail, wind): 9 bands from Storm Events.
Supports FEMA checklist item B1-f Hazards that vary across jurisdictions
Range of census tract risk scores within the area for 15 of the 18 hazards (19 tracts; rated tracts only).
1 jurisdiction: plan clock, repeat-flood count, Public Assistance dollars and event records naming the place (starting figures from federal data).
Supports FEMA checklist items B2-a and B2-b Vulnerability and potential impacts
County-level: Windsor County (National Risk Index exposure and expected annual loss; since-plan counts use Bridgewater town's approval date).
The packet's table gives county-level starting figures; the plan describes impacts for each jurisdiction and its own assets.
Storm Events damage since 2020-11-18: $26,848,000 in county-coded records (46 records); $1,475,000 reported for the zone (67 zone records). Data through 2026-06-30; nominal dollars.
Local data needed
To gather:
- Critical facilities and lifelines per hazard
- A problem statement per jurisdiction per hazard
- Changes in development in hazard-prone areas since the last approval, or a statement of none (E1-a)
- Future assets
- Vermont Flood Ready Atlas and Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) river corridors for town flood and erosion locations.
- The Emergency Relief and Assistance Fund (ERAF) Flood Hazard Summary gives E911 building counts in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) per town.
- Vermont Dam Inventory for dams in and upstream of the town.
- Vermont Emergency Management (VEM) hazard mitigation planning resources and the 2023 Vermont State Hazard Mitigation Plan.
Supports FEMA checklist item B2-a Vulnerability (county context)
County-level: Windsor County.
Population 57,706; building value $16,602,595,068 and agriculture value $32,259,803 (total, not at risk).
National Risk Index rating Relatively Low; social vulnerability Relatively Low; community resilience Relatively High.
Supports FEMA checklist item B2-c Repetitive loss properties
Repetitive-loss properties (Windsor County, county-level), FMA definition (44 CFR 77.2): 4 repetitive loss, 1 severe repetitive loss. NFIP insurance definition: 14 and 0.
Mitigated 0; insured 7; NFIP data as of 2026-08-02. Counts by occupancy group and for each jurisdiction are in the packet.