Drones in Hurricane Season increasing Disaster management advantage!
Fred & Grace have been some of the newest, unwelcome guests sent from the Atlantic to the South East coast of Florida creating a tense calm sense among us residents of this side of the US. Although they’ve been manifesting as tropical cyclones, depressions or even storms; we the hosts of their environmental moods are always on the lookout for the next really serious hurricane which’ll infuse a supermarket rampage and a swift short term migration before it arrives. Henri swirled around the Bahamas and afterwards was headed north to Rhode Island while Ida became a Hurricane making way and hitting Louisiana causing 4 deaths plus power outages causing hospitals, already at top capacity with COVID patients, to run on generators or close making patients move to nearby facilities.
Floridians are usually very experienced when it comes to hurricane awareness, prevention and post-cleanup. It has become a process which starts with the breaking news of a new meteorological event headed to the northern Caribbean region with hourly updated comments on its growing intensity/power, the sudden human rush towards all provision selling establishments which will make a fortune in a very small span of time, the actual arrival of this tropical gift from mother nature, and last but not least, disaster.
When this process is completed, hurricanes usually keep on going leaving behind all kinds of damage and disasters which have to be cleaned up by authorities, non-profits and any other kind person willing to help. The level of debris is proportionally direct with the category of the climate depression which means that the bigger the storm, the bigger the amount of rubbish that has to be dealt with. When a CAT 3 or higher level hurricane hits the Florida coasts again(it’s a matter of when and not if) it will be catastrophic, bringing very high speed winds and floods causing power shortages, communication failures and god forbid… Human casualties.
At this point, search and rescue teams all over the area have to deploy immediately to look for missing people as a top priority. Airplanes and helicopters evaluating the size of the disaster and looking for unaccounted residents of the area are overwhelmed by the amount of terrain they have to cover which makes this task way to slow. Thankfully with new drone technology, more space can be assessed in less time having more eyes in the sky which increases exponentially the chance to find survivors in less amount of time giving them a better chance of being found and taken to the nearest medical facility to be attended!
UAVs or drones have various capabilities which allow pilots to be more effective while flying against time to help all those who have suffered by this natural disaster. Through comprehensive software solutions, aerial imagery provides enhanced situational awareness for rescue teams on the ground which reduces any risk and managing disaster more effectively. High resolution 20MP, 10x and + zoom, low and high frequency infrared payloads attached to these drones allow a more clear view of the surface which helps ground teams find people easier. Dropping devices help delivering life savers, lite weight medical and food supplies, transmission radios, gps devices and many other tools which are so critical they can mean the salvaging leverage between life and death. Automated External Defibrillators are also being delivered by drones for anyone suffering of a cardiac arrest in any difficult access spot saving the patient valuable time which he/she would not have if they had to wait for a helicopter or even an ambulance. Risk mitigation can be created by capturing data from the sky which creates intelligence that can be passed through reports to leaders creating strategies to save lives in very unique, unexpected situations.
With the increasing amount of UAV pilots having the correct training and capabilities to help search and rescue units, we can make a huge contribution collecting intel so that our families, friends and neighbors can have a better chance if, god forbid, something ever happens to them. With this technology at the grasp of our hands, we can increase the percentage of saving lives…
