{"id":508212,"date":"2022-04-28T07:11:18","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T14:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=508212"},"modified":"2022-04-28T08:29:41","modified_gmt":"2022-04-28T15:29:41","slug":"visualizing-ice-storm-damage-aided-salems-response","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/visualizing-ice-storm-damage-aided-salems-response","title":{"rendered":"How Visualizing Ice Storm Damage Aided Salem\u2019s Emergency Response"},"author":671,"featured_media":0,"parent":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":[211],"tags":[231,238371,479142,479132],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478642],"esri_blog_department":[478242],"class_list":["post-508212","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-public-safety","tag-damage-assessment","tag-emergency-management","tag-ice-storm","tag-salem","esri-blog-category-disaster-response","esri_blog_department-public-safety"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"City of Salem, Oregon, staff used a map-based emergency management approach to prioritize ice storm response.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"City of Salem, Oregon, staff used a map-based emergency management approach to collect and distribute information for prioritizing ice storm response measures.\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Key Takeaways:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Facing unexpected and widespread ice storm damages, city public works department deploys smart maps and dashboards.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Recovery teams identify tree canopy loss using before-and-after imagery, GIS, and AI machine learning.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>GIS tools support collaboration across departments and documentation for FEMA reimbursement.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Newscasters warned an evening winter storm would make landfall in Salem, Oregon, on February 12, 2021. Overnight, ice covered the city, rupturing electric transformers and sending tree branches crashing onto streets. By morning there were city-wide road closures, more than 260,000 people without power, and almost 2,000 residents reporting hazardous debris. Devin Doring, technical services supervisor for the city\u2019s public works department, knew his team members needed a system to collect and share all of the information streaming in so that they could respond quickly.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doring enlisted a familiar technology\u2014the smart maps the city had in place for managing routine operations.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe realized quickly that we would need to go out; do damage assessments; and, as public works, go make sure the streets were passable,\u201d said Doring. \u201cSo... the first path we explored was knowing the conditions and sharing the damage with maps.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Communicating the Full Extent of Damages <\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For Doring, the initial response was shock\u2014the forecasts had not predicted the severity of the ice. \u201cI remember waking up to see this inch or two inches' worth of buildup, trees folded in half, and power lines on the ground. The magnitude of the ice caught everyone by surprise.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First steps for the public works team included making the roads accessible for utility crews to repair power lines. The team rallied sanding trucks and tree trimming crews. But for the ongoing emergency management effort, the team needed a way for ground crews to communicate with office staff about the damages.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[508242,508362,508252]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Doring turned to longtime collaborator Daniel Brown, the city's geographic information system (GIS) supervisor for the enterprise service department. \u201cWe didn't have a playbook for a citywide ice storm event, but we first determined what we could do with GIS.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To get a holistic picture, Salem's GIS staff mapped layers of existing data such as information from the city\u2019s 311 call center database and damage reports collected by crews. Staff in the field used GIS-based survey apps to snap photographs and record information such as the location of damaged assets or any hazardous materials. Crews also recorded information such as response priority level (critical, high, medium, or low), type of repair work and equipment needed, the species of downed or damaged trees, and type of infrastructure affected.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":508272,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The damage reports and photos were synced with other GIS apps on a shared online dashboard. Whether staff members were in the command center, the office, or working from home, they kept an eye on the dashboard maps to assign work orders, track completion, and share updates.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think we always knew that the potential to share and collaborate with other agencies was very high,\u201d said Doring.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dashboard also proved useful for sharing data with other groups to support their response efforts and for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimbursement. All told, estimated costs for Salem\u2019s ice storm response and recovery add up to approximately $6.8 million.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhether or not we would qualify for a declared disaster and receive reimbursement from FEMA, we took the lead,\u201d said Brown. \u201cIn every decision we made, we built the damage assessment so we could send information to the county or the state or the federal level because we have that understanding of how that can happen.\u201d<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":508282,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3 style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Imagery and Maps Show Tree Canopy Impact<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A year later, the road to recovery now focuses on <a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/e68e0f9ff3904ce7a63989e6193f7075\">damage\u00a0documentation<\/a> and tree canopy restoration. \u201cThe extent of the damage isn\u2019t something that just stops when all of the debris is collected,\u201d said Doring. \u201cOur urban forester said it will be a years-long restoration process.\"<\/p>\r\nThe team used imagery and machine learning tools from Esri partner Nearmap to examine before and after aerial imagery to come up with a citywide measurement of the quantity of trees lost."},{"acf_fc_layout":"gallery","gallery_images":[508842,508852]},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team created a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/92066fd3c39a431c86ff5a55755fbdd0\">public-facing tree canopy impact application<\/a> to show an estimate of how many trees are were destroyed and how the canopy has changed in parks or neighborhoods. People can select specific areas\u2014such as council wards, city parks, public rights-of-way, or stream corridors\u2014to see where to plant new trees.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building on the tree restoration maps, the team brought in drone imagery to determine where to plant new trees in a local park and cemetery. The team compared data from a recent drone flight to aerial imagery collected in August 2020 and May 2021, providing context for understanding tree canopy loss citywide.<\/p>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":508262,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/apps\/dashboards\/92066fd3c39a431c86ff5a55755fbdd0"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tallying the metrics of its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesmanjournal.com\/story\/news\/2021\/05\/10\/salem-ice-storm-recovery-to-take-months-cost-millions\/4998109001\/\">overall recovery<\/a>, Salem hauled away 20,600 vehicle loads of debris with a total of 31,000 cubic yards collected. From the downed trees and limbs, the city generated 6,050 tons of wood chips and 214 logs for public use.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, staff across departments\u2014having had the chance to use smart maps, GIS apps, and dashboards\u2014are seeing the technology\u2019s potential for decision-making and day-to-day operations. \u201cI think events like this show that GIS can be more than a map, and that it can be a core solution to help us improve our business decisions,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Doring reflects on the ice storm emergency and its aftermath, he says a successful response comes down to people. \u201cI would say the biggest thing to consider in an emergency is that your response is only as good as your people because they make it happen. We have an awesome GIS team for the city who crushed it, and this is a shout-out to the people and the work they did.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/emergency-management\/overview\">GIS helps municipalities respond and recovery when disasters strike<\/a>.<\/p>"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Visualizing Ice Storm Damage Aided Salem\u2019s Emergency Response<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"City of Salem, Oregon, staff used a map-based approach to collect and distribute damage information to prioritize ice storm response.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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