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Unity in Crisis: How Drone Teams Mobilized to Aid Hurricane Helene Disaster Relief in Eastern Tennessee
- Following Hurricane Helene that tore through the US Southeast in late September, drone-flying communities responded to the disaster by deploying their unmanned aerial vehicles to transport supplies, assess flood damage and locate missing people.
- In conjunction with other first-responders, volunteer drone organizations first deployed to support search and rescue and then subsequently to aid in the recovery of the victims' remains.
- Chris Starnes, president of volunteer drone organization First to Deploy, partnered with drone analyst and tutor Gene Robinson from Wimberly, Texas to analyze their data.
- Starnes's organization mapped the flood-ravaged area and searched for hotspots using his Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced drone, which collected thermal imaging data that Robinson analyzed for vital intelligence.
- The drone searches identified several submerged vehicles that had been swept away in the flood waters, with their GPS coordinates being relayed to local first responders to aid in the recovery efforts.
- Robinson's analysis of drone imagery and data proved striking for volumetric assessments while identifying details not viewable by the human eye, such as debris piles and clandestine graves.
- Volunteer drone pilots should be trained to respond to crisis situations before flight for established disaster-management agencies. Before flying within disaster areas, they must first get permission from local incident response commanders.
- Drone-flying communities have been increasingly used in disaster recovery for their significant contributions to information gathering, analysis and subsequent emergency operation support.
- Their ability to transport supplies, assess and identify damage, and locate people enhances the quality and efficiency of disaster recovery efforts.
- Data analysis can tease out facts and relationships from raw imagery and assist disaster-response teams with the accurate allocation of essential resources.
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