Designing an ArcGIS Survey123 Form to be Used with Field Maps to Conduct Post-Storm Damage Assessments

Abstract

Hurricanes are an annual risk to most counties in Florida, and Flagler County is no exception. A critical aspect of post-hurricane response is conducting a preliminary damage assessment in order to gain access to Federal Emergency Management Agency funds. In the past, Flagler County has relied on outside consultants in order to complete the calculations on the back end of the preliminary damage assessment. This study aims to design a preliminary damage assessment solution that is managed completely in-house in order to mitigate the reliance on a consulting firm in the time of a disaster. This solution consists of a Field Map for assessors to utilize in the field, a Survey123 form for completing the damage assessment in the field, Dashboards to monitor the progress of the damage assessment, and reports to be utilized by incident command and other stakeholders. The Survey123 form includes additional calculations for estimating the damage cost, amount of structural debris, and amount of vegetative debris. This set of Damage Assessment tools helps to decrease dependence on outside consultants, saves Flagler County money on consulting fees, and ensures that the tools are be ready to use when a disaster strikes.