Katrina Water Levels

Katrina Water Levels

This image is a lidar elevation data set, which is a light detection and ranging is a remote sensing method used to examine the surface of the Earth. This particular form of an elevation model is a 3D representation of a terrain's surface, which is commonly used to represent planet including Earth. Here, we have an elevation model that shows the change in water levels in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit the city. This is important because geospatial based inundation maps and products can be quickly generated for response and recovery efforts immediately following the storm. GIS data sets can aid significantly in disaster relief projects, like the many that occurred in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. 

This next image shows the change in water levels by volume per feet-acre.

This map provides an estimate of the water levels of New Orleans from Katrina in the days following the storm. Since there is a significant level of spatial detail and vertical accuracy of elevation measurements, lidar is an important technological tool for use in low-relief hurricane-prone coastal areas and could help prevent further flood crises. This data was found with contributions from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science

Gesch, D. (2005). Topography-based analysis of Hurricane Katrina inundation of New Orleans. Science and the Storms: the USGS Response to the Hurricanes of, 53-56.