Applications in GIS:Hurricanes

Hello readers,
     This post is continuing the past few weeks theme of GIS and natural disasters and associated hazards. The disaster being focused this week is Hurricane Sandy which struck the East Coast of the United States in October 2012. GIS is being used to map the storms path while presenting which states subsequently declared emergencies with FEMA as a result of the damage from the storm. Additionally, GIS is being used to do a street by street comparison of pre and post storm imagery to assess damage at the county parcel level. These are both prime examples of the information that GIS can portray at two vastly different scales. From the continental down to an individual neighborhood.
The data was predominately provided by UWF, and all processing was completed using ArcMAP. The objectives that were explored while building the below maps were as follows:

 Analyze data stored in a Microsoft Excel Database.
 Create data using the Display XY tool
 Create data using the Points to Line Feature Tool
 Create effective Labels utilizing VB Scripting
 Prepare data for processing in a geodatabase including, but not limited to, proper nomenclature.
 Perform a raster mosaic
 Explore the Effects Toolbar using the Flicker and Swipe Tool
 Prepare Post-Storm Damage Assessment Data using Attribute Domains in a Geodatabase
 Locate and identify attributes based on storm damage
 Generate report/table based on damage results for given study area
 Create effective locator inset maps
 Compile damage assessment map in a format that best communicates the data

Most of these objectives focus on specific features and toolsets used in ArcMAP. The rest focus on creating coherent maps for the best information portrayal possible. My attempt at these things is below:

This map focuses on portraying Sandy's path from the Caribbean Sea through the Atlantic and into the NE United States. You can see that the points along the path show relative wind strength and pressure as the storm fluctuated in its intensity. This map was created by taking the known intensity points and creating a path out of them, and displaying them as seen. The symbols used were also custom made for the assignment and color coded for relative strength. Once the storm made landfall the intensity dropped, however it was still such a massive sized storm that it had severe impacts on all the states you see displayed.

In this map we've now zoomed into a section of the New Jersey coast particularly hard hit by the storm. The two insets highlight the state, and then the local area seen in the before and after imagery. Generating this map was much more involved than the base map above. The highlight however for this map is the defined damage levels across the parcels along the south side of Fort Ave. There wasn't an established point layer for each of these parcels, so I had to heads up digitize (edit a new feature class of points) a layer to show the associated damage level. Essentially I created a point in each of the parcels at the centerpoint of the structure seen in the before image, and then referenced the after image and assigned a level of destruction. The overal flow from east to west in this case shows houses going from completely destroyed to more minor structural damage. Everything in this block also has some inundation damage, that is damage from rising of sea level above ground level. Overall this map serves as an example of the type of analysis that could be done block by block in a larger scale project for this type of disaster response. Thank you for your time.