The Role GIS Played in Emergency Response During 2008 Iowa Floods

Roughly 54 people attended the Eastern Iowa GIS Users Group meeting on July 17, 2008 at the Wickiup Hill Outdoor Learning Center just outside Cedar Rapids. The afternoon session focused on the use of GIS during and after the recent flooding events. Rick Havel, GIS Coordinator for Johnson County, Iowa, and Jason Siebrecht, GIS Coordinator for Linn County, Iowa, started the discussion with their recent experiences. Quickly others joined in with comments about their own experiences, questions about what others did or learned, and ideas about what might be needed in the future.

Here are some interesting points that were raised:

• GIS staff generally have not been included in training exercises and the emergency operations center when used.


• Printing maps during the flooding was a problem in several instances. Either there were problems with hardware "talking" to each other (i.e. lacking the proper printer driver on a laptop), or problems due to the sheer volume of paper maps needed.


• Current aerial photos are extremely important in order to see exactly what is where. Outdated photos have items that are shown but no longer there, or are missing new structures.


• LiDAR data was extremely helpful.


• GIS can be used during the actual response, but is also useful for damage assessment after a disaster.


• River gauges were helpful in monitoring activity and estimating water levels. Historical river level data was imperative during the flooding. Knowing what the water level was in the 1993 flooding and which roads were closed at that time helped to estimate which roads might close this time.


• Simple directional maps were critical to assist out-of-town responders.


• Many expressed an interest in collaboration during future disasters. GIS professionals in an area that is unaffected by the disaster are interested in getting to that area to assist, or assist remotely if that is possible.


• The need for a data inventory (who's mapping what) and a data repository seemed clear.

All in all it was a very lively and exciting discussion. It sounds like relationships between emergency management/response and GIS professionals will be built. Clearly there is a need for accurate, current data and a means to share that when needed. The ICIT Data Repository and IGIC's proposed IGI should accomplish the goal of sharing the data. Now to get an inventory done and documented and get current, high resolution for all of Iowa... We'd be ready for next time. (Here's hoping next time never comes.)

In the Aftermath of Disaster

Spring weather in Iowa packs a potent punch. This year's unusually severe weather, including the tornado that struck Parkersburg and New Hartford and flooding in Ames illustrate the potential of geospatial data and tools to help save lives, limit damage, and reduce the costs of dealing with emergencies. Maps, data sets, tools, procedures and policies as well as the personnel to interact with them have played a crucial role in dealing with this spring's weather events.

Damage assessment is required after any disaster. Thanks in part to geospatial technologies, in these cases it was done more quickly and more accurately resulting in faster filing for federal assistance and more accurate dollar figures. In Butler County, the County Assessor worked with the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division (HSEMD) to make sure they had access to their digital assessment data where it was combined with post-tornado images from Civil Air Patrol (CAP) to speed and streamline damage assessments in Parkersburg and New Hartford. Black Hawk County sent their assessment data as well, and both sets of information were used to assist Mid-American Energy in determining which customers needed their billing suspended during this tragedy.

The City of Ames and Story County have both utilized geospatial technologies to support decisions made during recent flooding events. In the City of Ames, Geographic Information System (GIS) Coordinator Ben McConville was stationed in their Emergency Operations Center (EOC) throughout the flooding providing mapping related support to aid decision making and streamline flood response activities. As the flooding status changed for the area, up-to-date road closure maps were generated and that information was sent to City departments and others to make them aware of the changing circumstances as quickly as possible. GIS was also utilized to quickly generate contact lists for properties threatened by the floodwaters, rather than looking up potentially affected properties in a phone book and contacting property owners in a traditional manner. This allowed business and property owners to respond much faster to the flooding and resulting consequences.

During the same recent flooding event, Lori Morrissey, Story County Emergency Management Coordinator, worked hand in hand with County staff in using GIS to assess the impact of flooding. Utilizing assessment data of ownership and value, maps were quickly generated showing properties that were destroyed and those with major damage. These maps were a crucial tool during the verification tour with staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the County worked to acquire Federal assistance for those impacted.

Jon Paoli, GIS Coordinator for HSEMD was in the State EOC during and after these events. He states the some of the value of GIS in this way, "It allowed us to get close to real damage assessment numbers to the Federal Government so we could get declared more quickly... more accurate data leads to more accurate funding."

In the weeks and months to come, hopefully the severe weather will be minimal. But if it does strike in areas of Iowa that have geospatial tools, rest assured that those tools will be used to react quickly, assist with decision making, and provide accurate assessment data to the authorities.