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Planning for a high water event should begin months before the flood. A good flood emergency plan will contain many elements and functions that must be designed to work cohesively and seamlessly during the emergency phase. The flood emergency plan must also complement other planning documents, such as those created under the provisions of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) to deal with a hazardous material release. It is essential thatlocal flood plans fit into larger regional or state planning programs. This greatly enhances the capability to share resources over an entire watershed or river syStem. Finally, the local flood plan should serve as a basis for private flood plans, such as those created by large riverfront industries and business centers. Together, all planning documents should fit into a seamless response system. Notes The outcome of a planning effort should be a network that eventually develops a written document or plan. Flood emergency planning cannot be a singular activity. No one person or agency has the talent, experience, or resource base to write an effective flood emergency plan. A cooperative process is essential for success. Information must be gathered from a variety of sources and the concerns of each planning team member and element can be addressed in the final document. Coordination issues should be solved during the planning process, not when problems arise in the field. These are all important issues and factors to consider during the plan development phase. The use of a process based planning system will have other benefits. People and agencies involved in the planning process will develop working relationships and trust. In an emergency, the relationships developed during the planning stage can greatly enhance emergency problem solving. Good workin relationshi s can so ease t at es, re uce stress levels, and provide better service to the community. In many communities, the local emergency management office will coordinate the planning effort. To save time, some planning information and data can be collected and organized before the first meeting of the planning team. The planning coordinator should identify the key players in the planning process and call an initial organizational meeting. To be effective, the primary planning group should be kept to a manageable size, no more than 15 representatives. Subcommittees can be used to expand the planning team base and to bring specialty sldlls into the system. For example, resource management is a major planning element. A subcommittee may be Page 3 - 3