Submeter
Satellite Imagery Shows Hurricane Charley Devastation, Aids Clean-Up
Efforts
The devastation caused by
Hurricane Charley is obvious in before-and-after
comparisons of submeter satellite images collected by
DigitalGlobe's QuickBird satellite. The images on the
right were collected on Aug. 14, 2004, the day after the
storm crashed onto the mainland at Punta Gorda, Fla. The
images on the left were collected on March 23, 2004.
With winds between 131-155 mph, Charley was rated a
Class 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale of
1-5. The storm claimed 22 lives and left thousands
homeless. Estimated damages were near $11 billion,
making it the most destructive storm to hit Florida
since Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm, in 1992.
The imagery was used to assist federal and civil
government agencies responsible for coastal and inland
damage assessment, change detection (permanent
landscape/coastal alterations), watershed and floodplain
mapping, long-term environmental and reconstruction
monitoring, and property loss identification and
estimation. Additional imagery can be viewed on the Web
at
http://www.digitalglobe.com/hurricane_charley_gallery.html
