Summary:
Hurricane Idalia, the ninth named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region near Apalachee Bay as a Category 4 hurricane on Wednesday, August 30, 2023.
Idalia formed as a tropical depression on August 27 near the Yucatan Peninsula and rapidly intensified over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The storm reached Category 4 status with sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts of 160 mph before making landfall over the counties of Taylor, Dixie and Levy in Florida.
The storm surge was as high as 16 feet in some areas, and heavy rainfall of up to 12 inches was also reported. Idalia caused widespread damage in Florida, including power outages, flooding, and structural damage.
Hurricane Idalia was a major storm that caused significant damage in Florida and other parts of the Southeast United States. The full extent of the damage is still being assessed, but it is clear that the storm will have a lasting impact on the region.
Skytek mapped in Figure 1 the track of the hurricane and the predicted landfall and later trajectory on land, across Florida.
Skytek obtained aerial images of Florida before and shortly after Hurricane Idalia made landfall and applied its proprietary machine-learning algorithm to detect, highlight, and quantify the damage caused by the hurricane.
The Situation Room platform shows Hurricane Idalia making landfall near Perry, Florida and ingested for analysis aerial imagery for relevant areas along the hurricane track and potentially affected, and displaying in Figure 2 several selected cities as samples of the available analytics:
Steinhatchee town, of around 1,050 people and about 350 households, is located on the Steinhatchee River and part of the Taylor district, Florida, USA
Rocky Creek is a small village community located on the Rocky Creek River and part of the Dixie district, Florida, USA
Horseshoe Beach town, Florida of around 250 people and 100 households, located in southern Dixie County, Florida, USA
Suwannee is a fishing village of about 250 people and 84 households, located on the Suwanee River, near its mouth.
The results of Skytek’s analysis can be used to assess the impact of Hurricane Idalia and to help with disaster relief efforts. The analysis can also be used to improve early warning systems and to better prepare for future hurricanes.
Skytek provides for each of the analysed regions a pre-event high-resolution image, used as a benchmark to detect, highlight and quantify the damage associated with Hurricane Idalia, and a post-event high-resolution image, where the ML damage detection algorithm provides an overlay where the identified damage is graphically indicating the location and the damage category of the detected damage.
Horseshoe Beach overview
The aerial high-resolution imagery acquired for Horseshoe is displayed in Figure 3, to be used as a reference image in the analysis.
Skytek obtained aerial images of Florida before and shortly after Hurricane Idalia made landfall and applied its proprietary machine-learning algorithm to detect, highlight, and quantify the damage caused by the hurricane.
For the town of Horseshoe Beach, the Skytek damage detection algorithm identifies 823 buildings (including houses, stores, boat piers etc.), and finds that nearly 60% of these structures suffered damage associated with the high winds and flooding from Hurricane Idalia.
A summary of the damage detection findings is displayed in Figure 5:
Damage Category | Damage Range | Number of Properties | Property Damage % | |
 | RED | 76%-100% | 143 | 17.38% |
 | ORANGE | 26%-75% | 340 | 41.31% |
 | GREEN | 0%-25% | 340 | 41.31% |
Figure 5 – Skytek damage assessment overview for Horseshoe Beach, for September 03rd 2023
Skytek can further provide in a detailed table, each of the identified properties in the region analysed, with coordinates, and results of the ML damage detection analysis indication the category and the percentage of the identified damage. A sample of the table is displayed in Figure 6
ID | Address | Lat. | Long. | Damage % | Damage Category | |
| | 29 | 111 4th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4423º N | -083.2854º W | 0.00% | Green |
| | 30 | 111 9th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4393º N | -083.2868º W | 94.86% | Red |
| | 31 | 111 Main St, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4424º N | -083.2869º W | 0.00% | Green |
| | 32 | 112 2nd Ave W, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4439º N | -083.2885º W | 0.00% | Green |
| | 33 | 112 6th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4410º N | -083.2894º W | 3.65% | Green |
| | 34 | 112 6th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4407º N | -083.2893º W | 100.00% | Red |
| | 35 | 113 2nd St, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4381º N | -083.2909º W | 50.87% | Orange |
| | 36 | 114 3rd Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4434º N | -083.2887º W | 100.00% | Red |
| | 37 | 114 3rd Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4432º N | -083.2885º W | 50.00% | Orange |
| | 38 | 114 9th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4390º N | -083.2868º W | 33.88% | Orange |
| | 39 | 115 8th Ave W, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4395º N | -083.2904º W | 22.22% | Green |
| | 40 | 115 8th Ave W, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4395º N | -083.2906º W | 21.23% | Green |
| | 41 | 117 11th Ave W, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4375º N | -083.2933º W | 100.00% | Red |
| | 42 | 117 9th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4389º N | -083.2913º W | 100.00% | Red |
| | 43 | 12 11th Ave W, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4381º N | -083.2917º W | 50.00% | Orange |
| | 44 | 12 4th St, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4382º N | -083.2898º W | 50.00% | Orange |
| | 45 | 12 4th St, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4381º N | -083.2895º W | 0.00% | Green |
| | 46 | 12 4th St, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4379º N | -083.2895º W | 0.00% | Green |
| | 47 | 120 3rd Ave W, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA | 29.4433º N | -083.2890º W | 54.70% | Orange |
Figure 6 – Skytek analysis listing the addresses and identified damage at Horseshoe Beach, sample table
DETAILED ANALYSIS FOR 111 9TH AVE E, HORSESHOE BEACH, FL
Skytek run its proprietary damage detection algorithm over Horseshoe Beach, and detailed in the paragraph below the status of a property identified with high damage by the algorithm at 111 9th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA,
The property is identified as a residential building located at the address 111 9th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA, in coordinates: 29°26’21.6″ N 83°17’12.4″ W
The property has been ingested in Skytek’s intelligence platform, to perform an analysis of its status using high-resolution imagery acquired before the hurricane damage and comparing the status of the same property using high-resolution imagery acquired post-event. This analysis provides information on any changes identified in the images, including a qualitative description of the observed damage.
Analysing the two high resolution imagery for before and after the Hurricane Idalia, the following observations can be made:
- The structure at 111 9th Ave E shows severe wind damage
- The roof of the building has collapsed and is observed fallen in the nearby channel
- The building is noted constructed based on wooden elements, above the ground
- On the building footprint currently, there are only debris
- Several structures neabrby have also been damaged by high winds and the debris are noted fallen in the nearby water channel
- The ML algorithm rates the damage percentage of the structure located at 111 9th Ave E, Horseshoe Beach, FL 32648, USA to 94,86 % which is equivalent to complete destruction, as listed in Figure 6, second line.
