Texas Tornado Damage Assessment Maps Made in ArcGIS Pro

Nine tornadoes blew through northern Texas on December 26, 2015, damaging at least 1,000 homes and buildings, and claiming 11 lives.

The GIS department at Collin County went to work collecting data and making maps to help efforts led by the Texas Emergency Response Team. Through ArcGIS Online, they accessed all of the data collected in the field and information about tornado ratings and paths.

Collin County GIS manager Tim Nolan used ArcGIS Pro to produce maps that illustrate the recovery efforts and display the capabilities of GIS and of his team.

“I found ArcGIS Pro to be quite intuitive even though, as a manager, I do not use GIS every day,” Nolan said. “I could envision the maps I wanted to make and ArcGIS Pro made it easier for me to get there.”

The Collin County Tornado Maps were used by Collin County Homeland Security, Collin County Fire Marshal’s Office, Collin County Sheriff’s Office, Collin County Central Appraisal District, Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas DPS Texas Division of Emergency Management, National Weather Service, Collin County Public Works, and numerous non-profit groups to help with disaster recovery including the American Red Cross and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.