Recovery analysis after August 2023 windstorms in Latvia (2023-10-10)

Activation date: 2023-10-10
Event type: Wind storm

Activation reason:
On Monday 7 August 2023, Latvia experienced a severe storm characterised by large hailstones, thunderstorms, heavy precipitation, and intense winds. This event resulted in significant damage to human life, animals, the environment, properties, critical services, and business infrastructures. In areas where hail was reported, harvests were damaged, and forestry zones also bore the brunt of the storm's impact. The State fire and rescue service of Latvia activated the CEMS On-demand Recovery Mapping that performed an analysis focused on the assessment of affected forest stands (e.g., level of damage, affected area, and species affected), over 32 AOIs (total area of 4,748 km²) spread along the country. Several information sources were used in the analysis (e.g., 10m resolution Sentinel-2 pre-event, and 4m resolution PlanetScope post-event satellite images, ancillary reference information, LULC, tree species local datasets, etc.) to provide valuable information in support of forest management and recovery operations.The products delivered were:Delineation and grading of forest areas damaged by the storm event, based on comparative analysis of pre and post satellite imagery and ancillary data (Photo -interpretation keys, visual inspection, vegetation indexes differencing).Affected tree species (the species information was provided by the authorised user).Reference mapping for all the 32 AOIs, including LULC