Civil Air Patrol stepped up after heavy rains and snowfall in rural Appalachia over a few days in mid-February caused rivers to rise and overflow their banks, putting homes, businesses, and infrastructure throughout the region in jeopardy.
Flooding and later erosion and mudslides hit eastern Kentucky particularly hard, as well as other rural areas of southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia. CAP responded quickly to the disaster, providing vital aerial imagery to state emergency management agencies as well as geospatial damage assessments for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
As heavy rains continued to fall, FEMA activated the CAP Geospatial Program’s Damage Assessment Team to help evaluate the impact on homesteads and business districts in all three states.
The geospatial team identified flooding-affected homes by using oblique and 3D imagery captured by CAP aircrews, along with additional sources such as videos and photos from law enforcement, storm chasers, and commercial drone operators. Team members also analyzed aerial imagery from National Guard aircraft and commercial satellite imagery from Planet Labs to provide a comprehensive assessment.
Aircrews from the Kentucky Wing conducted 16 imagery flights totaling 33 hours. They produced around 800+ oblique images for Kentucky Emergency Management.
“Their focus was to capture signs of flood damage, isolated individuals, destroyed roads and bridges, flooded supply routes and signals left by survivors,” said Capt. Philip Harris, the wing’s assistant director of operations. “This in turn aided KYEM’s situational awareness for triage of its resources.”
The Virginia Wing, meanwhile, supported the Virginia Department of Emergency Management’s request for high wind and flood damage photos in Dickenson, Tazewell, and Buchanan counties.
“These counties have small populations and are largely composed of hills and valleys, with their population, a road, a stream, and sometimes a railroad all condensed at the foot of the hills,” said Lt. Col. Jeff Van Etten, the wing’s director of emergency services.
Despite challenging weather conditions, a wing aircrew flew twice from Roanoke and took 800 oblique photos of those three counties. A second aircrew launched from Danville the next day and had to turn back when it encountered “un-forecast low clouds with icing.”
The low clouds prevented additional flights the rest of the week. The aircrews’ two missions totaled six hours of flight time.
On the mission base side of the Virginia Wing’s response, Van Etten said three CAP members worked to create the tasking using Geographic Information System-based tools, including SARTopo, ForeFlight, and ArcGIS, while also locating the aircrews and building the sorties.
The Kentucky Wing maintained a virtual incident command post for four days during and after the flooding. “We now have another mission underway with the Red Cross assisting with ground-based damage assessments and imagery,” Harris said.
During their first day of that mission, three CAP ground teams conducted five sorties with the Red Cross and police and fire departments in Letcher County. In total, 47 Kentucky Wing members participated over five days as 11 sorties were conducted.
“Our assistance enabled the American Red Cross to clear counties and identify areas requiring further support,” said Capt. Michael Lense, who led the effort that just ended. “Without the dedication of the members who not only took the time to get qualified in emergency services areas but also to support the mission, this effort would not have been successful.”
Acting as a Total Force partner and the Air Force auxiliary, CAP helps First Air Force rapidly respond to nonmilitary threats domestically in a Defense Support of Civil Authorities capacity to save lives, relieve suffering, prevent property damage, and provide humanitarian assistance.
The collaborative effort between the CAP geospatial team, aircrews, and ground teams and FEMA in documenting the damage enabled the governments of Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia to apply for federal disaster declarations, expediting relief and aid to affected residents. Kentucky and West Virginia have received their major disaster declarations, and Virginia’s request is pending.
