{"id":148912,"date":"2018-11-28T19:18:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T03:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&p=148912"},"modified":"2024-04-11T15:31:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T22:31:57","slug":"using-configuration-speeds-rescues-and-damage-reports","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/using-configuration-speeds-rescues-and-damage-reports","title":{"rendered":"Using Configurations Speeds Rescues and Damage Reports"},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[24962,13602],"tags":[185192,185202,1251],"arcuser_issues":[184702],"class_list":["post-148912","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","category-natural-disasters","tag-flood","tag-hurricane-florence","tag-public-safety","arcuser_issues-fall-2018"],"acf":{"short_description":"New Bern, North Carolina used ArcGIS field apps to coordinate water rescues during Hurricane Florence and document damage to speed relief funds.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"pdf","file":154042},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"When Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina on Friday, September 14, 2018, the City of New Bern was as ready as it could have been."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Located near the coast at the confluence of two rivers, New Bern was about 90 miles from the hurricane\u2019s point of impact. The city had prepared for big storms before. Two years ago, when Hurricane Matthew\u2014initially a category 5 storm\u2014was forecasted to roll through the Carolinas, the city set up Esri\u2019s Damage Assessment configuration of Collector for ArcGIS to help emergency responders keep tabs on field resources and conduct damage assessments. But Hurricane Matthew turned back into the Atlantic Ocean after making brief landfall as a category 1 storm in South Carolina, and New Bern was spared.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe only had 10 houses that were damaged by trees,\u201d said Alice Wilson, the city\u2019s GIS manager. \u201cWe lucked out.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs Hurricane Florence billowed and roared across the Atlantic in early September 2018, it became clear that New Bern wouldn\u2019t be so lucky this time.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen we heard that Florence was coming and we knew how bad it was going to be, our first thought was to evacuate,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cBut then we knew some of us had to stay here to help the people who stay behind. [\u2026]<\/i> We knew there would be significant impact and we\u2019d have to go out into the field as soon as possible.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":148942,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"City officials set up an emergency operations center (EOC) the day before the storm hit. Wilson and her team tested all their geospatial tools ahead of time, including the Damage Assessment configuration that emergency responders would use out in the field and the dashboard that teams in the EOC would employ to oversee operations. They also wanted to be able to provide the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with as much information as possible as quickly as possible.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey had me, as the GIS manager, in a central position in the EOC,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cI had utilities on one side, public works on one side, and fire and police across from me.\u201d\r\n\r\nInitially, Wilson and her colleagues looked for areas they knew would incur the most damage so they could turn off utilities. This would also help them be ready to deploy fieldworkers to fix downed power lines and burst water and sewer pipes after the storm was over.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe knew, based on our elevation data, [which]<\/i> areas would be affected,\u201d said Wilson.\r\n\r\nCity officials also knew from Hurricane Irene in 2011 that the Neuse and Trent Rivers that surround New Bern could swell up to seven feet, if not more. Wilson pulled stream gauge data into ArcGIS Desktop so staff in the EOC could monitor the rising rivers. They readied for water rescues.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe\u2019d put a mandatory evacuation in place, but people stayed for one reason or another,\u201d said Wilson.\r\n\r\nWhen Florence hit on Friday afternoon, its impact was immediate. The rivers swelled by 10 feet."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":148952,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cWe were getting call after call for water rescues,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople were calling, telling us they were in their attics and needed to be rescued.\u201d\r\n\r\nBy 11:30 p.m. that night, staff at the EOC were aware that about 150 people needed to be rescued, according to the City of New Bern\u2019s Twitter account. But that was only half of what was to come.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe got through our stuff and then got a call Sunday morning at 1:00 that [the neighboring town of]<\/em> Pollocksville needed water rescues,\u201d said Wilson.\r\n\r\nRescue teams from New Bern weren\u2019t familiar with Pollocksville. At one point, the fireman in the EOC said his water rescue crew couldn\u2019t find high ground, so Wilson used GIS data from North Carolina\u2019s statewide GIS advisory group and found contour lines for Pollocksville. She then employed ArcGIS Desktop to map where that crew was and where it needed to go to get to higher ground.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe conducted over 300 water evacuations,\u201d said Wilson, \u201cand not even just in our city.\u201d\r\n\r\nUsing data from ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World and local information, such as where street closures and shelters were located, Wilson and her team created online, public-facing maps as well. They posted a tabbed story map on the city\u2019s website that showed stream gauges, wind velocity, and more information about Florence\u2019s sheer potency. They also have a live app that displays all the power outages in New Bern in real time, which proved crucial during the storm, saving city staff an untold amount of time answering phone calls from residents asking about outages.\r\n\r\nThe whole time, Wilson manned two computers: one that showed a map of New Bern in ArcGIS Desktop and one that pulled the online maps and apps she and her team had built into a dashboard that everyone in the EOC could see on a big monitor.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt was pretty chaotic, but we tried to make sure we had as much information as possible as Florence came in,\u201d said Wilson.\r\n\r\nThe storm passed through on Sunday, September 16, and the City of New Bern immediately began doing damage assessments using the Damage Assessment configuration it had set up in Collector. Utility workers, firefighters, and inspectors\u2014from both New Bern and outside cities\u2014jumped in to help.\r\n\r\nSome of them had never used Collector before, let alone the Damage Assessment configuration, so Wilson and her colleagues got them trained quickly and sent them into the field. There were seven teams in all. Utility workers went first to the houses they knew had been completely inundated by water to see what they would need to do to restore service. Firefighters and inspectors went out in pairs to examine any fire concerns and record all the destruction using the app.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe had significant damage,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cThe storm surge affected us the most.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn addition to the 10-foot floods that deluged some parts of town, New Bern had four feet of water inside its historic downtown buildings. Big bear statues that usually stand outside certain businesses were floating down the street. And a few yachts ended up land bound, stranded next to houses and a hotel."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":148972,"image_position":"right","orientation":"vertical","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"By the following Friday\u2014just seven days after Hurricane Florence hit\u2014New Bern had finished its damage assessments.\r\n\r\n\u201cAll the houses that were really damaged fell right where we thought they would,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cSo we knew our data was good.\u201d\r\n\r\nInspectors recorded an estimated $100 million of losses to both commercial and residential properties. Although that number is breathtaking\u2014especially for a city of 30,000 residents\u2014Wilson was impressed by how fast New Bern recorded this much damage."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cI was here when we had Hurricane Irene, [which]<\/em> was probably the worst hurricane that I\u2019ve been a part of,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cBack then, inspectors would use these forms that were FEMA-generated, and they would go handwrite all this information. They would bring it back to me, and I would have to enter it all. It was so time-consuming. You were trying to read somebody\u2019s handwriting, and after a while, they would just scribble something because they were so tired.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe Damage Assessment configuration, which works on both Collector and Survey123 for ArcGIS, is so much faster, according to Wilson.\r\n\r\n\u201cBecause it\u2019s spatially located, I don\u2019t have to do anything,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were sharing this live. We [didn\u2019t] <\/em>have to process it and turn it around.\u201d\r\n\r\nAs of September 21, just a week after Hurricane Florence made landfall, FEMA was already aware of New Bern\u2019s damage assessment values.\r\n\r\n\u201cHopefully now we can plan a little better when we rebuild.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":"","text":"\u201cI can\u2019t even think of the amount of time we\u2019ve saved,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cEsri tools\u2026have been instrumental in getting us back on our feet.\u201d","author_name":"","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":148962,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"With only a few injuries and no deaths recorded in New Bern due to Hurricane Florence, Wilson said she has never been prouder of her community.\r\n\r\n\u201cWithout question, we just knocked it out of the ballpark and not only helped this city but also helped neighboring cities that didn\u2019t have what we have,\u201d said Wilson."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"\nUsing Configurations Speeds Rescues and Damage Reports | Fall 2018 | ArcUser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New Bern, North Carolina used ArcGIS field apps to coordinate water rescues during Hurricane Florence and document damage to speed relief funds to residents.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/using-configuration-speeds-rescues-and-damage-reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using Configurations Speeds Rescues and Damage Reports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Bern, North Carolina used ArcGIS field apps to coordinate water rescues during Hurricane Florence and document 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