The Buncombe County Multi Hazard Risk Tool was developed by RENCI to help emergency responders and planners prepare response and mitigation plans for Buncombe County by providing information about:

• the hazards that affect Buncombe County


• the areas of the County that are affected by each hazard


• the number of and total value of property parcels at risk from each hazard


• the key infrastructure and critical resources at risk during a hazard event

The Risk Tool includes five important hazards in Buncombe County: Flood, Landslide, Wildfire, Dam Failure, and Winter Storm. Risk maps for each hazard were created by intersecting a map of property parcels with maps of hazard extents obtained from trusted sources such as NC Dept of Environmental and Natural Resources, the Southern Group of State Foresters, and the NC Floodplain Mapping Program.

The Risk Tool runs in any Internet Explorer or Firefox browser and contains three components:

• a map showing county data layers including roads, waterways, elevation, and city limits, geographical extents for each hazard, and the parcels at risk from each hazard, with standard map navigation controls for zooming and panning
• a set of reports summarizing parcel counts and values for each hazard and each town, grouped by parcel classification and vacancy status, with documentation explaining the assumptions and models used to determine hazard risk
• a toolkit with functions for identifying map features, finding parcels, controlling map layer visibility and transparency, obtaining map layer metadata, and creating a printer ready version of the map

With the Risk Tool, emergency responders and planners can answer targeted questions such as:

• What is the total property value at risk from a 100 year flood in Black Mountain?
• Are any roads at risk from a dam failure in Montreat?
• What parts of Weaverville are at risk from a landslide?
• What areas of the County are most at risk from a wildfire?
• How many parcels in Asheville are likely to have adverse impacts in a winter storm?
• Could a flood block access to a new planned subdivision?
• Could a dam failure cause damage to a planned rail hub?
• Are there any areas expected to be developed that are also at high wildfire risk?
• How many parcels in Asheville have unstable land that is prone to landslides?

Emergency responders, planners, and other government officials interested in getting login access to the Risk Tool should contact Todd Pierce at UNC Asheville’s NEMAC.

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