Hurricanes Katrina-Rita:
Historical Louisiana (And National) Geospatial/Imagery Response
Introduction
• Result of national historical natural/anthropogenic disaster
events; experiences; and evolution of analog to digital
(B.C/A.D.) geospatial mapping technology through time (19502005)
• Several key historic disaster activities have influenced local,
municipal, state, and federal organizations response activities
and coordination
• Hurricanes Katrina/Aug. 29 & Rita/Sept. 24 were pivotal
federal/state disaster (natural) events that changed local,
municipal, state and federal organizations response activities
and coordination into a more unified administrative and
support structure
Summary of Previous Natural & Manmade
Events: Personal Experience
• Hurricane Camille (Mississippi & Louisiana)-August 17-18,
1969
- Historic hurricane: Dept. of Housing & Urban Development
/Federal Disaster Assistance Administration was in control
(1960-1979) of handling disastrous urban impacts. FEMA
created in 1979.
- Only manual cartographic/graphic capabilities & high
resolution analog imagery available for applications.
- NOAA: Satellite b&w imagery/22 km resolution.
- NASA: Aircraft color/cir Film Imagery (viewing at USGS/
EROS/Office/NASA Stennis Space Center, Ms.
- DOD/Aerial-Satellite b&w imagery
•Lower Mississippi River Basin Flood (Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas)March-May, 1973
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers coordinated flood and
monitoring of disaster event.
- USGS/Water Division monitored stream/river water gauges
that flowed into Mississippi river & levee system.
- Flooding on both sides of the levee system. Old River Control
& Bonnet Carre Control structure north & south of Baton
Rouge was threating to collapse.
- Available imagery for flood monitoring was NOAA/NESS
satellite imagery (1.1 km); NASA/USGS/ERTS-1 (Landsat)
imagery (79 m);NASA high altitude CIR imagery (scale
120,000). USGS & NASA staff at Stennis Space Center
interpreted Landsat & CIR imagery for USACOE.
- First use of Landsat imagery for disaster event and NASA high
altitude CIR imagery
•3 Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant Incident, Pennsylvania
March 28, 1979
-
-
-
EPA was in charge of rescue and response activities by request of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission . EPA had a remote sensing staff to
coordinate and acquire aerial imagery & analysis.
EPA staff had developed a UAV/Drone camera (Vietnam war era) system
for mounting in a small aircraft and operated by a camera system operator.
USGS staff at Stennis Space Center coordinated with EPA staff on the
coordination and interpretation of the UAV/Drone camera system &
imagery.
The UAV/Drone camera system used high resolution black & white film;
flown at very low altitudes; and vertical or oblique orientations. The
black & white film was processed at near site location.
High resolution imagery was required for damage monitoring. No low
resolution satellite imagery was requested.
•Mount St. Helens, Washington Volcanic Eruption
May 18, 1980
-
-
-
-
Mount St. Helens Volcanic eruption declared a federal disaster by
President. USGS Geologic Division (Volcanic Branch) was selected as lead
federal agency for disaster response coordination.
USGS Geologic Division provided volcanic eruption and earthquake seismic
predictions information from seismic monitoring sites.
Washington Department of Natural Resources coordinated vertical color
aerial photography (Approx. 1:24,000, June 1980) of areas impacted by
Mt. St. Helens.
NASA/USGS-EROS provided Landsat mss imagery; NOAA provided GOES
satellite imagery; NASA provided MODIS/Aster mss, airborne simulator
imagery; USGS ground horizon color/b&w photography during eruption;
and USGS/Stennis Space Center staff provided color aerial video coverage
of selected eruption areas of Mt. St. Helens.
Damage (volcanic explosive winds, ash, and landslides) areas primarily
natural areas, hydrographic steam/rivers and some urban communities.
•Hurricane Mitch, Honduras-Nicaragua
October 29, 1998
-
-
-
At the time, the second deadleast Atlantic hurricane. Over 11,000 people
are killed.
Honduras and Nicaragua seek and accept international help. USGS
responds through USGS/Center for Integration of Natural Disaster (CINDI);
National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) provided coastal natural
resource damage imagery interpretation, assessments and mapping; and
Earth Resource Observation Systems Data Center (EROS) provided aerial
vertical color infrared photography (approx. 1:20,000, April 2000) and
Landsat imagery & SPOT imagery.
DOD/Defense Threat Reduction Agency/Open Skies Program provide
vertical black&white aerial photography (approx. 1:40,000, Dec. 1998).
Spain provided vertical aerial photography (approx. 1:20,000, Jan-Mar-Apr
& July 1999).
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) coordinated
& provided funding for digital topographic map handling, aerial & satellite
imagery acquisition.
GIS & aerial digital imagery systems were not available.
•Twin Towers World Trade Center, NY
September 11, 2001
-
-
-
Terrorist attack of New York City, largest US populated City, DOD Pentagon &
rural area of Shanksville, Pa.
Major response and recovery activities by municipal, state and federal
agencies. Impacted areas very small in size (Twin Towers), section of
Pentagon, near field area close to Shanksville, Pa..
From day of attack to Oct. various organizations provided satellite & aerial
imagery platform systems for damage assessment, recovery/clean-up
activities.
High resolution systems were preferred over low resolution systems.
Detailed imagery was needed for identifying infrastructure damages &
debris content.
New York City, Department of Information, Technology, &
Telecommunications was provided with SPOT (10m); IKONOS (1m mss/pan);
EarthData (6” to 1’ pan) orthoimagery; AVIRIS-NASA/JPL hyperspectral
imagery; NOAA aerial color film, vertical, low altitude (approx. 3000’ & 1”
ground resolution); Pictometry high resolution/low altitude color imagery; &
LIDAR & Thermal IR imagery
Computer GIS & digital camera systems provided requested geospatial
products & Federal DHS formed (FEMA, Coast Guard, US Secret Svc., TSA.,
Etc)
•NASA Space Shuttle Columbia Crash
February 1, 2003
-
-
-
-
-
Disintegration & debris of the Space Shuttle was spread across north &
primarily east Texas & portion of west central Louisiana. NASA
coordinated the largest debris recovery effort search in US history.
Primary Federal agencies in support of NASA were FEMA & EPA.
Supporting NASA efforts were Forest Resources Institute/HUES GIS Lab. at
SFASU; FEMA/Federal Disaster Field Office at Lufkin, TX & Barksdale AFB,
Bossier City, La.; Texas Water Development Board & Texas Natural
Resource Info Center; and USGS/NWRC, Lafayette, La.
High resolution IKONOS (1 m color/cir imagery for selected areas in east
Texas for debris location monitoring.
USGS/NWRC staff tasked by NASA to review and analyze acquired high
resolution b&w aerial photography for shuttle debris of areas near &
between Lubbock and Ft. Worth, Tx.
GIS systems were utilized greatly to coordinate and map debris
distribution & types. Low satellite resolution systems were not used.
Hurricane Events in or Near Louisiana Not Requiring Large Geospatial/Imagery Data
Acquisition For Federal Disaster Event Response: Before Katrina-Rita
-
-
Hurricane Andrew (August 24-26, 1992)
•Florida-Louisiana
Hurricane Georges (September 24-28, 1998)
•Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama
Hurricane Lili (October 3, 2002)
•Louisiana (Land Between Katrina-Rita)
•Florida Hurricanes Charley (August 13-14, 2004); Frances (September 5,
2004); Ivan (September 16-21, 2004); Jeanne (September 25-26, 2004)
Result of past hurricanes & disasters , especially the 2004 Hurricane
Season in Florida created a major USGS administrative coordinative
geospatial (imagery/maps) data change between USGS/EROS/Disaster
Response & USGS/NMD/State Geospatial Data Coordinators .
Geospatial data information preparations for 2005 Hurricane season !
•2005 Pre-Hurricane Season Geospatial/Imagery Data Preparedness & and Special
Phone Conference Calls (PCC) Awareness: Before Hurricane Katrina-Rita
-
-
-
-
Due to GIS & Geospatial/imagery data technology advancements; increasing
need for various gov’t (federal, state, county/parish & municipal) collaboration,
coordination, awareness, preparedness, & responses to increasing natural/manmade disasters – special 2005 workshop was organized.
After the 2004 hurricane season a Gulf Coast Geospatial Data Hurricane
Preparedness Workshop/Meeting was held at NASA/Stennis Space Center, Ms.,
Bldg. 1100 on June 20, 2005. The Gulf coast comprised of Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama & Florida.
The Gulf Coast Geospatial Data Hurricane Preparedness Workshop/Meeting was
schedule & coordinated by USGS/EROS/EDC Disaster Response Coordinators;
USGS/National Spatial Data State Liaisons Julia Giller (Florida, Alabama,Florida &
US Islands in the Carribbean Sea), C. O’Neil (Louisiana) & USGS Geography
Research/Eastern Region - Barbara Poore.
The Gulf Coast Geospatial Data Hurricane Preparedness Workshop June 20, 2005
presentations: USGS/EDC-Phone Conf. Calls, USGD/EDC coordination with FEMA,
geospatial/imagery data storage/handling/size issues, Geospatial One Stop, The
National Map, USGS/EDC Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS), Available &
ongoing geospatial/imagery data acquisitions of the Gulf Coast (DOQQ 1meter12,000-cir, non-DOQQ & 1 foot-1:6,000-b&w of selected cities like New Orleans.
•Hurricane Katrina: Phone Conference Calls
August 29, 2005
-
-
-
USGS/NWRC responds to requests by La. Dept of W & F (911 Calls); La.
Governors Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Prepardness; La.
State Police (911 Calls); La National Guard; FEMA (911 Calls);
USDA/National Resources Conservation Resources; NOAA; La. Dept of
Natural Resources; US Army Corps of Engineers/New Orleans District
Office staff & US Minerals Management Service/New Orleans Office.
Katrina Special Geospatial/Imagery Data Disaster Response Phone Conf.
(PCC) calls were coordinated by USGS/EDC (Brenda Jones/Ron Risty)
before & after the landfall of Katrina. PCC were held daily. Large number
of old & new federal, state (La., Tx., Ms., & Ala.), parish/county, municipal
and private sector organizations participated in the PCC’s. Such as, DHS,
EPA, NASA, FEMA, NG(I)A, DOD/NORTHCOM, US 82nd Airborne Div., US
Coast Guard, Dept. of Health & Human Svc’s/Center for Disease Control,
Civil Air Patrol, USGS/International Charter, Ducks Unlimited & etc..
PCC Calls pivotal/critical to response-recovery coordination, distribution
and acquisition of geospatial/imagery dataHurricanes Katrina & Rita.
•Imagery/Geospatial Data Coordination & Aerial Imagery Acquisitions:
Pre Katrina Landfall
-
-
-
-
2000 (continued acquisition & processing to 2008); state of La.; LIDAR
data; 1 foot elevation products; & coordinated by FEMA/Louisiana Oil Spill
Coordinators Office.
2002 (early spring); New Orleans urban area; b&w aerial imagery (film); 1
foot (GSD) pixel resolution; 1:6000; DOQQ’s; & coordinated by NGA/USGS
Urban Area Proj.
2004 (Jan-Mar); whole state of La.; cir aerial imagery (film); 1 meter (3.3.
feet) GSD pixel resolution-1:12,000 DOQQ’s.
Prior to 2005, due to funding issues, USGS/NMD stopped coordinating &
producing the 1:24,000 quadrangle map series (paper & DRG). The
National Map program began to update quadrangles, etc. on multi-map
layers.
USGS Geospatial One-Stop & GIS For the Gulf programs were in the basic
stages of development when Katrina made land fall.
•Imagery and Geospatial Data Coordination & Aerial Imagery Acquistions:
Post Katrina Landfall
-
-
-
“Luckily” for south (coastal) La. & south (coastal) Ms. USGS/NMD,
USGS/NWRC & Coastal Wetlands Presevation, Protection & Restoration
Act (CWPPRA)had prepared acquistion of the 2005, DMC, 1st digital, cir, 1
m/GSD, 1:12,000 scale, aerial, DOQQ imagery for Nov. (Oct. planned
initially).
Approximately, mid-Setpember 2005, FEMA coordinated ADS40, digital
aerial, color, 1 foot/GSD, 1:6,000 scale, & geo-referenced imagery for
approved designated “Blue Tarp” impacted Katrina areas (New Orleans
area, Mississippi river delta, & coastal Ms. to Mobile, Al.
USACOE/Topographic Eng. Center, Alexandria, Va. managed the aerial
imagery acquisition and distribution. Many serious controversies with
FEMA/USACOE, Alexandra, Va. about Katrina aerial coverage (USACOE,
New Orleans & other Katrina near by blue tarp/damaged urban
communities (impacted areas). FEMA/USACOE, Alexandria acquired
imagery quality was very questionable.
NOAA, immediately after Katrina landfall, acquired DMC, color, 1.2
feet/GSD, non-georeferenced aerial imagery of La./Ms./Ala. Coastal
shoreline/Lake Ponchatrain/New Orleans/Miss. river & delta.
Imagery and Geospatial Data Coordination & Aerial Imagery Acquisitions:
Post Katrina Landfall (continued)
-
-
-
NOAA color aerial imagery was the first available high resolution aerial
imagery (before FEMA/USCOE imagery) for damage evaluation &
search/rescue/response activities.
2005 September- October USFS coordinated cir aerial film, .5 meter/GSD
(approx. 1.5 feet) resolution, scanned from 1:15,840 scale, prepared
orthoimagery data of designated Katrina impacted areas in the DeSota
National Forest, Ms.
La. Civil Air Patrol provided aerial oblique color imagery support activities
for U.S. Coast Guard & U.S. Air Force.
FEMA requested DOD/DIA for color aerial imagery overflight of Katrina
impacted areas. The title of the “classified imagery” was Harvest Hand.
DIA coordinated the aerial imagery overflight with NORTHCOM.
In support of FEMA, U.S. Airforce, 9th Reconnaisance Wing, Barksdale, Ca.
flew U-2 aircraft, optical bar camera, providing high resolution color aerial
film of La., Ms., Ala., and parts of Fla.
Pictometry provide high resolution vertical & panoramic oblique high
resolution color imagery for Univ. of La./RAC-La. National Guard.
Imagery and Geospatial Data Coordination and Aerial Imagery Acqisitions:
Post Katrina Landfall (continued)
-
-
-
-
Private commercial sector provided all kinds of resolution imagery
(meters-feet to inches) to USGS/International Charter or other contact
sources.
USGS/NGA/New Orleans Regional Planning Commission (NORPC)
coordinated 133 Urban Area Program 2006 acquisition of 6 inch (GSD);
1:3,000 scale; and color DOQQ’s for New Orleans urban area. Replaced
the 2002 coverage.
La. Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency
Preparedness (GOSHEP) coordinated with NORPC acquisition of 6 inch
(GSD); 1:3000 scale; and color orthoimagery for extensive area coverage’s
completely outside, around and adjacent to the New Orleans urban area.
USGS coordinated with USACOE/New Orleans District Office for
acquisition of 2007; 1 foot (GSD); 1:6000 scale color orthoimagery of the
Mississippi river levee system from the mouth of the river to Baton Rouge,
La.
•Imagery and Geospatial Data Coordination & Aerial Imagery Acquisitions:
Pre Rita Landfall
-
2000 (continued acquisition & processing to 2008); state of La.; LIDAR
data; 1 foot elevation products; & coordinated by FEMA/Louisiana Oil Spill
Coordinators Office.
- 2004 (Jan-Mar); whole state of La.; cir aerial imagery (film); 1 meter (3.3.
feet) GSD pixel resolution-1:12,000 DOQQ’s.
•Imagery and Geospatial Data Coordination & Aerial Imagery Acquisitions:
Post Rita Landfall
- Phone Conf. Calls continues; Impacted areas – southwest La. (Lake Charles,
La.) & southeast Texas (Beaumont, Tx.).
- FEMA/USACOE/Topographic Eng. Center, Alexandria, Va. acquires
(Oct/Nov) “Blue Tarp” ADS40 digital camera; 1 foot/GSD; 1:6000; color;
georeferenced imagery of impacted Rita areas.
- NOAA acquires (Oct) DMC; 1.2 feet/GSD; color; non-georeferenced aerial
imagery of coastal areas impacted by Rita. NOAA was the first available
high resolution imagery of Rita impacted areas.
•Imagery and Geospatial Data Coordination & Aerial Imagery Acquisitions:
Post Rita Landfall (continued)
-
-
-
2005 October/November USFS coordinated cir aerial film, .5 meter/GSD
(approx. 1.5 feet) resolution, scanned from 1:15,840 scale, prepared
orthoimagery data of designated Rita impacted areas in the Angelina
National Forest, Ms.
USGS/NMD, USGS/NWRC & Coastal Wetlands Presevation, Protection &
Restoration Act (CWPPRA)had prepared acquistion of the 2005, DMC, 1st
digital, cir, 1 m/GSD, 1:12,000 scale, aerial, DOQQ imagery for Nov. (Oct.
planned initially).
La. Civil Air Patrol provided aerial oblique color imagery support activities
for U.S. Coast Guard & U.S. Air Force.
Post Katrina-Rita Workshops/Conferences/Meetings
•The aftermath of the 2005 hurricanes of Katrina-Rita had a horrendous &
unbelievable result on the response; evaluation; recovery & changes to
those areas impacted by Katrina-Rita. And, as a result, a historical impact
on geospatial/imagery data; remote sensing platforms; acquisition process;
data coordination - distribution; & various geospatial/imagery technology
options generated tremendous interest in coordinating various topical
workshops before the 2006/2007 hurricane seasons.
-ASPRS/Washington, D.C.: The Role of Airborne & Satellite Imagery in
Disaster Response “Lessons Learned” Workshop. Jan 19, 2006.
-USGS/NMD/NWRC/Lafayette, La. & Univ. of La. at Lafayette/NASA/Regional
Applications Center/Abdalla Hall/Lafayette, La.: Louisiana Pre-Hurricane
Season Geospatial/Imagery Data Availability: Data Mining Workshop(s).
Abdalla Hall, June 6-7, 2006 & July 31-August 1, 2007.
Post Katrina-Rita Workshops/Conferences/Meetings (continued)
- USGS/NMD/NWRC/Lafayette, La., Univ. of La. at Lafayette/NASA/Regional
Applications Center/Abdalla Hall/Lafayette, La. & ASPRS/Mid South Region:
Unmanned Airborne Vehicle Imagery For Domestic Emergency Response &
Natural Resource Survey: Deployment, Operations, & Applications
Workshop. Abdalla Hall, Lafayette, La., Dec. 13-14, 2006. *FAA presentation
- La. GIS Council, LDOTD, LDWF, USGS/NMD/NWRC: Louisiana Coordinate
Reference/Grid Systems: Emergency Response Workshop. LDOTD Bldg.
1201, Baton Rouge, La., April 17, 2007. *State/S&R Grids not National Grid
in Louisiana-different in Mississippi (varies state to state)
- International City/County Mangm’t Assoc. (ICMA): Innovation, Leadership
& Networks for Post Disaster Restoration-2007 Conf. Sheraton Hotel, New
Orleans, La., May 2-4, 2007. *Economic/Infrastructure recovery in N. O.,La.
- USGS/NMD/NWRC/Lafayette, La. & USGS/Coastal Marine Science Center,
St. Petersburg, Fla.: LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) Information
Coordination & Knowledge Workshop. LSU, Baton Rouge, La., June 20-21,
2007. *There is a LIDAR system error budget & environmental conditions
Post Katrina-Rita Workshops/Conferences/Meetings (continued)
-
-
impact on 6” or better elevation data
US Minerals Management Service, now Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management/Regulation & Enforcement (BOCMRE), LDNR,
USGS/NMD/NWRC: Potential Sponsors of 2007-2008 Louisiana Digital
Mapping Camera Orthoimagery & Georeferenced Imagery Project
Meeting. US Minerals Management Service Bldg., New Orleans, La.,
March 2007. *BOCMRE, US-Gulf of Mexico area of coverage little larger
than the state of La.
USGS/NMD/Denver Federal Center: Post Katrina-Rita Assessment Survey.
(Nina Burkardt)
General Conclusions & Summaries
•The impacts of hurricanes Katrina-Rita on the central Gulf of Mexico
(Primarily Louisiana, Mississippi and southeast Texas) was a massive complex
national natural destructive disaster on humanity, infrastructures, economy,
natural environment, & administrative effectiveness.
•GIS, geospatial & aerial imagery, & digital data technology greatly integrated
& networked resulting products to various & numerous government (federal,
state, parishes/counties, urban/municipalities, Universities & private organizations.
•The Federal Dept. of Homeland Security & FEMA were not administratively
and technically prepared for coordinating & handling the huge historic Post
Katrina and attached Rita impacts. There was, later, an other smaller
hurricane (hurricane Wilma, Oct. 24, southern tip of Fla.).
•The USGS/EDC/Sioux Falls, SD. coordinated Disaster Event Phone
Conference Calls (PCC) were absolutely-extremely-instrumental in
coordinating federal, state, parishes-counties, urban-municipalities,
General Conclusions & Summaries (continued)
Universities, local & private organizations in communicating, organizing,
distributing geospatial-imagery data files & products (tremendous
challenges: files type, files size, compressed/uncompressed, distribution &
storage device mediums (dvd-stick-hard box, airplane, vehicle, etc.). The
PCC’s were #1 for providing “Organized Civility” for geospatial-imagery
handling activities.
•The volume (data size) of low & high resolution geospatial-imagery data
from 2002-2004 & 2005-2007 was hu-mongus. USGS/EDC has discussed
petabyte range for the Pre-Post Katrina-Rita event.
•2000 FEMA/La. Oil Spill Coordinators Office, LIDAR data was vital for
providing 1 foot elevation data for New Orleans. The LIDAR and satellite and
aerial imagery data helped to determine water levels in New Orleans as
result of the storm surge.
•NOAA post hurricanes Katrina-Rita color aerial imagery coverage were
absolutely vital to “everybody”. FEMA color aerial imagery coverage, quality,
General Conclusions & Summaries (continued)
and aerial imagery acquisition rules-regulations were not initially
“understood”. FEMA has DOD classified aerial imagery options but data is
not distributable to unclassified organizations.
•Pre Hurricane Season Geospatial/Imagery Data Availability: Data Mining
workshops are extremely instrumental in awareness of existing & new data,
phone conf. calls, governmental undates, activities in other states, etc.
•La GIS Council important in addressing political; administrative, fiscal
geospatial/aerial-satellite data needs every year.
Calvin P. O’Neil (USGS/Emeritus)
Ph: 337-580-3038
Email: [email protected]