This week both US Carolina States experienced one of the most intense and long-lasting rainstorms in recorded history causing widespread and dangerous flooding.  IRDR’s ICoE-VaRM, led by former IRDR SC member Susan Cutter, based at the University of South Carolina in Columbia (the epicenter of the emergency) sprang into action immediately supporting South Carolina’s Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the response and recovery effort.

Here is a partial list of their activities. Click here for the latest information.

1)  They are running HAZUS (FEMA’s multi-hazard risk assessment software) for every South Carolina county for the 100 year flood event using a 30-mile stream density. They have completed nine counties and are processing another ten.  The HAZUS runs are computationally intensive and take about two days per county to run.

2)  In partnership with Beaufort County GIS, they are developing a streamlined Individual Assistance (IA) and Preliminary Disaster Assessment (PDA) tool for every county using ESRI’s Collector App.  They have deployed four counties thus far and will continue to build out the tool for the entire state.

3)  Using Citizens as Sensors.  They are collecting geo-located tweets and sorting through them to identify the extent of damages statewide by searching attached photos for undeniable proof of storm or flooding damage.

They will make data available as soon as possible; check back frequently for updates and data releases.