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

2. April 27, 2011 62 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

3. 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

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

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

6. 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

7. NWS & AEMA Collaborative Effort

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

9. 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

10. 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

11. GIS Coordination The ISD Geospatial Office provided coordination assistance and enterprise support – Aggregated daily data sources and information – Maintained an email 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.

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

13. 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

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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

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

24. Thank You!!!! County Municipal State

25. Contact Information Melissa Mayo GIS Specialist Alabama Emergency Management Agency 205- 280-2440 melissam@ema.alabama.gov Mike Vanhook GIS Coordinator ISD, Geospatial Office 334-242-4799 mike.vanhook@isd.alabama.gov