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SpatialNews.com Press Release
USGS Providing Humanitarian and Scientific Aid in Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
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The past several days have seen remarkable devastation resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been affected by this disaster. USGS employees and facilities in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana have been impacted, we are currently assessing the damage", said USGS Acting Director Pat Leahy. "Our first efforts at this time are to assist in anyway the saving of human lives and to respond to scientific needs of people and agencies involved in the devastating aftermath of this unprecedented disaster."
USGS offices in Jackson, Mississippi and Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana received minor water and wind damage and are without electricity, telephone and Internet connections. The USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) in Bay St Louis, Mississippi, while providing shelter to a number of people received significant damage. A toll-free reporting service has been established for USGS employees in Mississippi and Louisiana to report their status. Flooding, road closures, and communication disruptions have prevented contact with a number of employees.
USGS humanitarian rescue and response is being coordinated by the State Police and the State Fish and Wildlife Agencies that are using USGS flat boats to deliver food and supplies and transport people that have not been able to evacuate many of the flooded areas. There are now concerns about safety and security so the U.S. Coast Guard will oversee the continued evacuation. USGS employees in Lafayette are focused on providing relief to the local community and to a rapidly growing refugee camp on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
As of today, Lake Pontchartrain level has stabilized. USGS scientists are coordinating with many Federal agencies to provide geospatial information, maps, satellite images, and scientific assessments to complete the recovery and begin the healing process.
USGS is combining its humanitarian and scientific efforts by providing, at the request of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Emergency Preparedness, geographers and data to help in mapping and analyzing the areas affected by the hurricane. Using a variety of satellite and aerial photography obtained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the geographers will provide coordinates and maps to link 911 calls and pinpoint exact areas where people need to be rescued. This linking of photography to ground coordinates was used in the 9-11 disaster in New York City.
USGS hydrologic crews are conducting storm surge reconnaissance mapping along the I-10 corridor.
USGS scientists have completed photography flights of the coast from Florida to Louisiana to do preliminary coastal elevation change pictures and models and also to determine the erosion of wetlands and barrier islands.
USGS and NASA will be collecting Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), which is similar to radar, on a flight this week from Florida to the Chandeleurs Islands in Louisiana. In support of a request by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers, they will also survey the levee breaks in the south end of Lake Pontchartrain.
The first post-hurricane flight on Aug. 30 examined the Louisiana coast eastward from Raccoon Island to Port Fourchon, an important oil port, to Grand Isle, a recreational area for sports fisheries, and then to Venice, the Chandeleur Islands, and back west to Fort Pike, Slidell, and Mandeville, an area where the greatest destruction stopped. An estimated 50 percent of the Chandeleur Islands were destroyed. The islands’ lighthouse is no longer visible. This chain of barrier islands is historically New Orleans’ first line of defense against tropical storms and hurricanes and is important habitat for wildlife.
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