Managing the DR-1971-AL Tornado Disaster using GIS Melissa Mayo GIS Specialist State GIS Unit Lead Mike Vanhook GIS Coordinator ISD, Geospatial Office

April 27, tornadoes statewide; 70 tracks Accumulative Damage path – 1,177+ miles long – 20+ miles wide 247 fatalities Estimated damage cost is $1.1 billion Estimated 10 million cubic yards of debris

67 counties declared for public assistance – Emergency Work (Debris Removal & Emergency Protective Measures) 43 counties declared for individual assistance – Assistance to individuals, families, & businesses with damages whose losses are not covered by insurance 33 counties declared for permanent work aid – Repairing roads/ bridges, water control facilities, buildings & equipment, utilities, parks, recreational facilities, and other facilities – Tuesday November 15 th : Day 202 Individual & Public Assistance

Initial Map Requests at AEMA Activated EOC’s Reported Damage Open Shelters Resources Requested Local State of Emergency Aerial Imagery Tornado Tracks/Swaths

Collaboration Federal Involvement State Involvement FEMAUSGS HDDSACoE NGANOAA NWS GSA ADECA ALGO/ISD ALNG ACJIC AFC ADEM

Local Contributions – County GIS – Municipality GIS Private Entities – Atlantic Group: uploaded imagery to public site Volunteer – Coordinated offers of assistance using spreadsheet FTP Site Access CONFERENCE CALLS!! Collaboration

NWS & AEMA Collaborative Effort

AEMA Activation GIS staff activation began at approximately 1800 hrs April 27, 2011 AEMA uses 12 hr shifts during activations – Moved to this immediately

Disaster Operations for GIS The following agencies & personnel supported AEMA to fill a GIS position after the tornado outbreak – AEMA GIS Intern, Kevin Taylor – Geological Survey of Alabama Sandy Ebersole Eric St. Clair David Tidwell – ADECA Henry Moore Wardell Edwards Anne Wynn Tony Tavis Meagan Rockman – University of Alabama Linda Watson

GIS Coordination Benefits of Coordinator outside AEMA GIS – Isolated from immediate needs of SEOC; could focus on broader GIS needs vs. specific needs at AEMA Daily maps at AEMA vs. generation of tornado tracks – Easily identified external sources for GIS & Remote Sensing assistance (federal/state/ local) Brenda Jones at USGS HDDS; State/ City GIS analysts – Tracked progress of work, maintained schedule for completion, & organized conference calls; provided daily summaries of available data sources Conference calls to aid AEMA GIS with tracking work completed by other GIS; prevent duplicated efforts and provide data layers quickly Ed Boyle & Maj. Simmons, AL National Guard; Kristin Frisbee, City of Montgomery; Lynn Ford, ADEM; Abi Dhakal, AFC; Henry Moore, Wardell Edwards, ADECA; + others

GIS Coordination The ISD Geospatial Office provided coordination assistance and enterprise support – Aggregated daily data sources and information – Maintained an distribution list – Coordinated imagery collection and distribution – Supported NOAA and USGS HDDS imagery distribution – Coordinated working groups for large tasks or collections – Maintained a secure FTP for use among State agencies Provided limited access to federal and local partners Primary Objectives: Ensure data and information exchange is open, frequent, accessible, and on time. Connect everyone that needs information. Provide a reliable record of resources that are readily available.

Imagery collected via various sources Posted publicly on USGS HDDS – Atlantic Group – NOAA Oblique Snapshots – ADEM – CAP Imagery Acquisition

Special Projects GSA/ ADECA created mapbooks for 4 counties – Cullman, Madison, Tuscaloosa, West Jefferson – Utilized imagery as background – Digitized roads to help first responders locate areas of interest

GSA, ADECA, & AEMA created overview maps to show damage in specific areas

Joint Field Office FEMA & AEMA work out of JFO for extended response to disasters – Centrally located for access to damaged areas DR-1971-AL JFO located in Birmingham GIS grouped with Planners for activations AEMA GIS co-located with FEMA GIS JFO closing date: November 9, 2011

Operation Clean Sweep Identify areas with extensive or catastrophic damage Local cost share became 90% Federal- 10% Local – Vs. usual 75% Federal & 25% Local cost share National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) utilized commercial satellite imagery – Performed initial analysis of tornado swaths – “Turned on” approved US National Grid squares – Counties requested additional areas for consideration Provided address and/or GPS coordinates NGA FEMA AEMA COUNTY LOCAL

Grids turned on during NGA initial sweep: 289 Final grid count after collaborative efforts: 960 Additional $$ leveraged thanks to collaborative efforts between State, County, & Local levels to have grids added

Operation Clean Sweep Grid maps generated; provided to counties and municipalities OCS concluded July 12, 2011

Debris Verification FEMA contracted with US Army Corps of Engineers to collect debris – Counties could either use USACE or their own contractor – AEMA GIS checked data reported by US ACE regarding debris locations – Mapped locations and determined whether they fell inside or outside of grids 90/ 10 split of costs

Parcel Collection Parcel data needed during initial response – FEMA estimated impacts Also needed during later stages – FEMA funding to create historical buildings and districts layers ADOR assisted with original collection for counties with tornado paths AEMA & FEMA collaborated to collect rest

FEMA contractors created historical building and district shapefiles for most counties using parcels – Digitized Covington; digital parcel data is not available – Providing new data files back to counties Parcel Collection

SUCCESS Efficient collaboration among GIS professionals Quickly assessed needs & organized projects Delegation of tasks Timely completion of products thanks to coordination

Thank You!!!! County Municipal State

Contact Information Melissa Mayo GIS Specialist Alabama Emergency Management Agency Mike Vanhook GIS Coordinator ISD, Geospatial Office