FEMA’s GIS Team Praised for Work in Colorado
The six-member team utilized a large amount of data to help provide information during Colorado floods last year
A year ago this month, Colorado was hit with a historic amount of rain. FEMA sent out a news release looking at the work their Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) unit did to help.
By pushing out a steady stream of spreadsheets, maps and updates by coordinating with local, state and federal agencies, the GIS team was able to effectively communicate areas of need. By supplementing that with satellite imagery which allowed them to show the sediment lines of battered neighborhoods, they were able to determine where the Civil Air Patrol and other aircrafts could conduct flyovers. They also created a geospatial disaster impact assessment that helped identify communities with the greatest impacts.
“During response we use GIS to estimate impacts to people, buildings, and infrastructure,” said Jesse Rozelle, GIS coordinator for Region VIII in the statement. “We used all of the information to provide situational awareness for decision makers.”