M5 Damage Assessment

 This week was about storm assessment and the determination of the damage. We were provided the data to work with which consisted of a small area on the Ocean County, New Jersey coastline similar to last week’s coastal area of New Jersey. This was a fun lab to work through. Working with data, creating maps using aerial imagery of an area affected by a hurricane reemphasizes how destructive they can be. Although they do not happen each year hurricanes are common enough that you learn to appreciate the damage one can do. It is never an ideal situation to go through and an experience you will never forget. 

The initial data was provided but still required processing. To do this several geoprocessing tools were used to create and analyze the data. These included creating mosaic datasets and adding rasters to them, and creating and setting a domain with a feature dataset. After the layers were created there was editing to be done, digitized points for the buildings, and a digitized polyline created for the coastline. These data are similar to what FEMA uses in post-disaster recovery efforts. The before and after imagery was provided, this was added to the map and used for damage assessments to the buildings. It was eye-opening when using the aerial imagery, being able to see inundated areas where the storm surge pulled the sand from the beaches onto the streets overwhelming the buildings nearest the coastline. 

Analysis results with attribute table