As is to be expected, GIS and mapping are playing a big role in the analysis, and future prevention efforts, of Hurricane storm damage.

While GIS has been used for years to map and analyze hurricanes and hurricane damage it appears that GIS has taken on a bigger role this year. This article in Wired on mapping Katrina's storm surge damage discusses the attempt to map the damage in hopes of using the information to create an atlas for future hurricane preparedness. It appears the data is going to be mapped for all of the gulf coast area and that the data will be used for modeling purposes of some sort.