FAST-1: Field Observations of 2024 Houston Derecho Wind Damage

StEER's hybrid field and virtual assessment captured damage from the May 16, 2024 Houston derecho. The dataset includes geotagged photos, videos, audio, and UAV imagery of structural damage to low-rise and high-rise buildings, power lines, and natural landscapes. A data enrichment and quality control process was executed by a multi-university librarian team on the field observations collected by the University of Houston-based FAST.

Use Cases

• Training computer vision models for automated damage detection based on geotagged photos and UAV imagery.
• Analyzing patterns of structural failure in low-rise residential buildings based on field observations of wind and tree-fall damage.
• Studying the vulnerability of glass facades in mid-to-high-rise buildings based on damage recorded in downtown Houston.
• Assessing debris volume and its sources for disaster recovery planning based on the recorded damage to natural landscapes and roof systems.

Strengths

• Includes multiple data modalities such as geotagged photos, videos, audio, and UAV imagery as described.
• Data underwent a formal Data Enrichment and Quality Control (DEQC) process by a multi-university team.
• Combines ground-level field observations from a FAST with virtual assessment data from a VAST.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Access for data collection was restricted due to safety concerns, which may limit spatial coverage.

Provenance

Source

DesignSafe Data Depot Repository Harvested Subcollection, authored by Dimitrios Kalliontzis.

Collection Method

Field observations gathered by a University of Houston-based team using the Fulcrum App and UAVs, combined with virtual assessment data.

Time Range

Following the May 16, 2024 derecho event.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-21 07:10:07; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Greater Houston area, specifically northwest Houston and downtown Houston.