Story Map Shows Hurricane Ida's Impact on Vulnerable Communities from Louisiana to New York

May 16, 2022

Maps that track a storm's path and intensity coupled with on-the-ground news reports give warnings so that people can prepare or get out of harm's way. Immediately afterward, damage and recovery efforts are covered by news media. But for people with limited resources, a storm's impact can last much longer and be more devastating than many may realize. With extreme weather events happening more frequently, this cycle of struggling can recur in a short time span, compounding the challenges.

To raise awareness about this situation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) integrated multi-media with stories, maps and stats of the places and people affected by Hurricane Ida, the most destructive storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. These stories shed light on how low-income communities who were in this storm's path fared and why recovery for them is so challenging.

The story map is titled In Harm's Way: Hurricane Ida's Impact On Socially Vulnerable Communities and is available at https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/780e11bd19cc4dfca54ac8fb1d5e926f.

By Nilde Maggie Dannreuther at the Northern Gulf Institute, Mississippi State University.