Monitoring Power Restoration Using Satellite Imagery and Social Vulnerability

Following the landfall of Hurricane Maria (2017), Puerto Rico experienced significant damage to power infrastructures, which contributed to delayed recovery of the island. While there is a need to maintain redundancy in power supply by identifying alternate sources of power, it is also crucial to monitor power restoration progress following the hurricane from response and community rebuilding perspective. In this project, Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band data along with social vulnerability of impacted communities were used to monitor power restoration progress in the island after the hurricane, and answer the following questions: (i) how effective is VIIRS imagery in monitoring near real-time power availability information? (ii) what is the accuracy of assessed customers and populations without power? and (iii) what is the role of social vulnerability of impacted communities on power restoration? Although findings indicated a gradual increase in power restoration and efficacy of VIIRS data for power restoration and recovery analytics, the restoration progress was impacted by socio-economic conditions of impacted communities and accessibility to transportation networks. Future research would focus on developing restoration trend lines to aid with emergency response efforts using satellite imagery and other ancillary geospatial and socio-economic data sets for different extreme events.