Res 2018-025/adopting the 2018 Hays County, Texas Hazard Mitigation Plan as the official plan of the City; authorizing the inclusion of the City of San Marcos Hazard Mitigation Plan as an appendix; designating the City Manager as the official authorized

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Table 2.18, Planning Area Severe Lightning Vulnerability Summaries Community Lightning Vulnerability Summaries Village of Bear Creek According to community testimony, Bear Creek has experienced lightning strikes that have hit trees and open areas in the community. A notable risk is created by the number of trees in the Village, due to the majority of the 687 acres of the community being made up of residential lots left wooded for the purposes of keeping the community as natural as possible. According to community testimony, past lightning events in Buda have taken City of Buda out City WiFi communications for the water towers to the SCADA systems (Su- Risk Assessment pervisory Control and Data Acquisitions). SCADA software application programs are systems for remote monitoring and control that operate with coded signals over communication channels. The interruption of these systems would affect critical infrastructure for the community. In addition, the community is pre- dominantly serviced by surface power lines that are susceptible to lightning strike. There are Comprehensive Plan action items regarding burying power lines along the IH-35 corridor. The City of Hays has many mature trees, as much of the City is wooded and has City of Hays an abundance of brush. This type of landscape faces vulnerability to lightning strike that could lead to wildfire ignition. Many of the homes in this community are surrounded by this vegetation and could be engulfed by the resulting blaze. In addition, certain critical infrastructure, such as the City’s only water pump station, are vulnerable for loss of service due to a lack of redundancy in systems. There are multiple cell towers in Dripping Springs that could be greatly City of Dripping Springs impacted if struck by lightning. Lightning has also been the source of structure fires in Dripping Springs in the past (according to community testimony). This risk is notably higher in the 555 acres classified as a very high fire intensity classification within the community Fire Intensity Report (shown in Wildfires profile). Lightning has impacts on outdoor resources in the community, putting those Hays County who are out during storms at risk. In addition, lightning strikes can affect critical infrastructure. An example of such an impact was the possible effects of lightning on Computer-Aided Dispatch system data dissemination. This can lead to an interruption in the emergency response services that County resources are able to provide during storm events. In addition, the many open space areas that are wooded are vulnerable to ignition during lightning strike, and especially during periods of drought. The portion of the community with surface power lines, rather than subsurface, City of Kyle is more susceptible to natural hazards. In undeveloped areas with high vegetative growth, the risk of wildfire ignition caused by lightning strike is also higher. People attending outdoor sporting events at schools and sports complexes such as the Gregg-Clarke playing fields are also at risk for injury or even death during lightning events. 47