Satellite data gives responders baseline for recovery efforts

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Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory leveraged satellite imaging data from flood-prone areas to help response teams quickly assess local properties damaged by the storms.

To help with response and recovery efforts after September's hurricanes, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a method that leverages satellite imaging data from extremely specific local areas to help response teams assess properties damaged by the storms.

ORNL geospatial experts used high-resolution satellite and aerial image data to extract building outlines and roadways in areas prone to flooding. That information, said the lab, provided preliminary building and structure data for recovery efforts that would have been difficult to obtain after a flood because the water tends to obscure and modify structures.

Harvey was particularly nasty, forcing 13,000 floodwater rescues across the state and displacing an estimated 30,000 people. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that more than 185,000 homes were damaged and 9,000 destroyed in that storm.

The images and data were used by federal and local emergency responders alike, Mark Tuttle, an ORNL geography and computer mapping scientist, said in an email.

"The techniques and processes we are using are focused on rapid detection of structures under nearly any circumstances," said Tuttle. He explained that ahead of the storm's approach, researchers used the most recent images of the areas for their analysis.

For Harvey, the lab analyzed almost 2,000 images that spanned nearly 26,000 square miles of building structures in Texas' coastal counties in just 24 hours, a process that would typically take up to nine months.

This article was first posted to FCW, a sibling site to GCN.

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