How GIS mapping benefits storm recovery response

WINSTON/OKTIBBEHA, Miss. (WCBI) – The 2014 Winston County EF4 twister is the fastest storm recovery response in the history of Mississippi and the program that helped make that happen could be helping some of Winston County’s neighbors.

It’s called GIS mapping and it stands for Geographical Information System.

GIS mapping means everything in the county is mapped and documented with a picture of every structure to go along with it.

Winston County benefited five years ago from having it, and now it’s helping Oktibbeha County with its storm recovery efforts.

More than 600 structures were destroyed or damaged when an EF4 twister dropped in Winston County back in 2014.

EMA Director Buddy King said before it hit, county leaders had no idea just how important GIS mapping would be for the county’s future.

“Golden Triangle had just completed the readdressing, an assessment of every property in Winston County, and before the tornado, that information was only six months old, so when the tornado hit, we had the ability to go back and take a picture and get geographical information on every home in the county that had been affected by the tornado.”

That led to Winston County having the fastest storm recovery response in the state’s history.

“It was because we had the data. If you don’t have it and you need it it’s too late, but we had their information. We had point location addresses for each structure. Everything in the county was mapped. Complete inventory of where everything was located spaciously,” sayid Golden Triangle Planning and Development District GIS Mapping Manager Toby Sanford.

That data also led to the county knowing the direct impact to its budgets within 24 hours, paperwork completed and filed with MEMA and FEMA in less than 72 hours, and request for funds processed completely within 28 days.

“It was able to generate the recovery documents faster than anybody else because we knew what was missing. We didn’t have to search. We didn’t have to look. We didn’t have to find records, we knew the address of every structure, where it was. All we had to do was take after photos, then you had the document that. You need to prove something was there and gone.”

“That rapid access to the resources to help these people start in the rebuilding process was monumental. People were still in the early stages. They were not as yet, frustrated. They were able to continue that hope of rebuilding and that’s evidenced here daily.”

Now, that same type of data is benefiting Oktibbeha County in its storm recovery efforts.

“A lot of trees down. A lot of house, roof damage that kind of stuff, so we’re able to produce that same document and in fact, she was here just a little bit ago, picking that up to take it back to FEMA and MEMA, to hand it over to show these are the things the damage that we assessed.”

Out of the seven counties Golden Triangle Planning and Development District services, Lowndes County is the only county without GIS mapping.