StEER has released a joint PVRR-EARR for Hurricane Ida, which includes both the virtual reconnaissance effort of StEER’s VAST as well as a synthesis of field observations from its regional FAST-1 collecting street-level panoramas (available on Mapillary) shortly after landfall:

Prevatt, D. Kameshwar, S. Roueche, D. Rittelmeyer, B. Duarte, T. Heo, T. Ibrahim, H. Klepac, S. Lafontaine, O. Lin, T. Manuel, L. Pilkington, S. Pinyochotiwong, Y. Santiago-Hernandez, J. Strader, S. Gurley, K. Kijewski-Correa, T. Mosalam, K. Robertson, I. (2021) “StEER: Hurricane Ida Joint Preliminary Virtual Reconnaissance Report-Early Access Reconnaissance Report (PVRR-EARR)”, in StEER - 29 August 2021, Hurricane Ida. DesignSafe-CI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17603/ds2-w6km-fe51.

This joint PVRR-EARR highlights five topics warranting further study following this hurricane:

• TOPIC 1: Conduct a rigorous evaluation of the performance of pre- vs post-2007 construction across all building occupancy categories within Louisiana;

• TOPIC 2: Investigate more fully the performance of power infrastructure across both transmission and distribution networks, with particular focus on the failure of the eight transmission lines feeding power to New Orleans;

• TOPIC 3: Evaluate the downstream functionality impacts of minor to moderate structural damage in critical facilities and schools; and

• TOPIC 4: Quantify interior damage due to rainwater ingress.

While the topics above warrant further investigation, the dire humanitarian and pandemic conditions in the region, including a shortage of hotels, rental cars, gas and running power/water, did not make it feasible to bring teams into the region without considerable logistical challenges and stress on the affected population. As such StEER continues to work with partners to extend its street-level panoramic imaging dataset and conduct virtual performance assessments to develop a representative sample suitable for long-term curation and reuse by other researchers. ​Members who wish to virtually conduct assessments of buildings using StEER’s aerial and street-level imagery should register their interest here.