Remote sensing-based comparative damage assessment of historical storms and hurricanes in Northwestern Florida

Abstract

Transportation systems are vulnerable to catastrophic storms while their recovery is vital for returning a community to its pre-storm state. Therefore, performing an accurate damage evaluation and identifying the patterns based on the strengths of these extreme weather events are essential for emergency professionals. A critical problem associated with this damage assessment is the logistics of quickly coordinating and implementing an extensive ground-based damage survey. Another significant challenge in developing a predictive understanding of the long-term effects of storms on coastal communities is the development of quantitative models that can relate the storm intensity and the resulting severity of damage on the different zones of the impacted areas. It is also unclear how urbanization and critical infrastructure affect the extent of the damage caused by them. Thus, this paper introduces a remote sensing-based approach that can rapidly analyze the damage caused by catastrophic storms with different strengths while providing a weighted statistical comparative assessment. We also evaluate an existing debris volume estimation method developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and compare the results to validate the proposed model. Results indicate that suburban and urban areas as well as moderate and high roadway density areas have generated more debris than rural and low roadway density areas. This relationship was also observed based on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) reductions. Findings of this study can help to perform more accurate and faster damage assessments using satellite imagery and remote sensing techniques.