Capturing the Scope of Damage from Hurricane Ida

This post originally appeared on GIC.org.

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Hurricane Ida - Destroyed Hangar with 4 planes

Capturing the Scope of Damage from Hurricane Ida

Collecting the damage caused by Hurricane Ida has been a massive effort by our team of experienced pilots. The vast expanse of the destruction could not be captured in just a day; it took several days to ensure a proper and appropriate collection.

As storm waters begin to recede and access to areas once inaccessible open up, a clear picture has emerged for continuing aid and beginning restoration efforts. And our imagery helps drive both response and restoration efforts by providing real-world context for these impacted communities.

A Path of Devastation

Hurricane Ida was a Category 4 storm with winds up to 150 mph—just 7 mph shy of being a Category 5. Damage estimates have been pegged between $15-20 billion with a number of residential properties identified “at risk” per the information* in the chart on the right. The numbers shown reflect nearly 750,000 homes.

Insurers have already begun proactively addressing damaged areas by using our comprehensive imagery library from Hurricane Ida. While some loss adjusters wait to gain access to impacted areas, remote claims management with this aerial data is giving GIC members a head start to getting their customers needed assistance.

Hurricane Ida - Destroyed Fire Dpt Boat Launch Facility

A View From Above

To get a better perspective of just how massive the scope of damage is, we’ve put together a small gallery of some of the hardest hit areas to help shed light on their current plight. In many images, it will be easy to see the destruction to home or buildings. But take a closer look and notice downed power lines, telephone lines, and road damage.

Houma

Across Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes (where Houma is the largest city), Ida slammed into the area, leveling homes, knocking down power lines, rendering roads impassable. More than 96% of the homes in the area lost electricity and almost that many lost cell phone service. At Terrebonne General hospital, hundreds of patients had to be transferred due to structural damage and the complete loss of water.

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Ida-Lafitte_Aerial_Image_Hurricane_GraySky_1

Jean Lafitte, Barataria, Lower Lafitte

In many areas across Louisiana, the levees did their job and were able to withstand the storm surge. But in the Jefferson Parish, they were not so lucky. The town levees were overrun and left more than 200 people stranded in Barataria, prompting boat rescues to those in imminent danger. Roughly 90% of the homes have “serious damage”.

Before and after views

Responding to Hurricane Ida

9-1-2021:
Over the past three days, our planes have been covering the wide swath of land damaged by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana. This Category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 150 mph, followed a near similar path to Hurricane Katrina, decimating areas where nearly 50% the houses are now gone. Our collection is already being shared with emergency managers and insurers to help those impacted start the recovery and restoration process. But our work isn’t done. There’s more imagery to collect tomorrow, weather pending of course (the storm system following Ida has brought more rain and pop-up thunderstorms). Meanwhile, heaps of imagery is rolling through our processing data centers and into the GIC platforms. Watch this page for more information.

8-31-2021:
Initial high-res aerial imagery is now available in GIC platforms. Our planes captured more imagery today, including additional oblique imagery which provides multiple views of each property in highly impacted areas including Houma and New Orleans. The impacted region is extensive, and we will continue to collect imagery tomorrow and publish imagery as its processed. Please contact us below if this post-catastrophic imagery can help your remote inspections and recovery efforts.

8-30-2021:
Today, when weather allowed, we deployed multiple planes to capture hi-res ortho and oblique imagery of impacted areas from Hurricane Ida. These aerial imagery collections are off to processing for GIC members, and our Gray Sky response plan involves more captures tomorrow. Above are a few images our pilots captured from some of the flooded communities.

8-29-2021:
The GIC is actively responding to Hurricane Ida. This weekend we safely staged several planes around the storm’s path. Our Gray Sky response plan includes being able to fly at different altitudes and deploying multiple sensors with the ability to collect hi-res oblique and ortho aerial imagery of impacted areas. Crews are standing by and waiting for the storm to clear.