In a city where street names and addresses are virtually useless, scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey are helping helicopter rescue pilots locate New Orleans flood victims with pinpoint accuracy. From day one of the recovery effort, stranded residents have been calling 911 for help on their cell phones. Yet all they can tell dispatchers about their locations are street addresses. In a city mostly under water, that information doesn’t help unless a rescuer knows the neighborhood by heart. Many responders, who are from outside the affected area, have no knowledge of the vicinities they are being asked to navigate.

Using automated geographic information systems, USGS experts, working with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Louisiana Geological Survey, are able to take these street addresses and provide longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates.

“Geo-addressing provides a crucial link between the information that 911 dispatchers gather and the on-the-ground information that emergency responders need,” Interior Secretary Gale Norton said. “This innovative use of science to save lives and the unparalleled interagency cooperation are outstanding examples of federal-state and local teamwork.”

Depending on the need, USGS furnishes emergency responders with directional coordinates in a variety of ways. For emergency responders with Global Positioning System equipment, USGS scientists are providing the coordinate data in a digital form that can be sent directly to the GPS equipment. For responders without GPS equipment, USGS scientists are producing maps that overlay geographic coordinates on grids of street addresses.

USGS provides the coordinate information to the Louisiana Geological Survey, which then distributes it to the government agencies that are participating in search-and-recovery efforts. At least 20 agencies have used this information, and USGS has assisted with thousands of calls (and some e-mails) from stranded hurricane victims. About 9,000 calls were processed on a single day –Sept. 2. In these efforts, USGS scientists have produced more than 3,000 tabloid maps and 40 poster maps.

The USGS scientists who have been working on this project are with the Spatial Analysis Branch of the Survey’s National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette and Baton Rouge, La. USGS also has provided mapping support for a variety of government agencies. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, for example, has sought USGS assistance to obtain up-to-date maps of the New Orleans levee system. Along with these maps, USGS has provided the Corps with geo-coded addresses for water pumps in the city. They are also collecting overflight video coverage of the areas that Katrina has affected and are converting this video information to maps, available on Web sites or as hard copies.

Volunteer USGS scientists in Louisiana, working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel, continue to aid in the ongoing New Orleans search-and-rescue mission in other ways, including helping to unload evacuees from helicopters and assisting with the Coast Guard’s triage operations. Crews from USGS and the Fish and Wildlife Service also helped distribute water and other supplies to elderly evacuees at a nursing-home facility.

USGS has provided its assistance at the request of the governor of Louisiana’s Office of Emergency Preparedness. See http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/hurricane/katrina.htm to learn more USGS’ humanitarian and scientific aid in Louisiana.