When natural disasters strike, timely and reliable visual information is critical for damage assessment, planning emergency response, and tracking recovery efforts. That’s why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects aerial imagery following major events such as hurricanes, wildfires, and floods.
We provide access to NOAA’s open disaster imagery in Lens, making essential information available to users within our platform at no extra cost. NOAA imagery from several 2024-2025 natural disasters is now visible for Lens customers on any plan who have properties that overlap with the captured areas.
Recent events now visible in Lens include:
2025 Texas Flooding: NOAA’s flights over Texas during major flooding provides up-to-date visuals, allowing for mapping of inundated neighborhoods and critical infrastructure.
Area near Hunt, TX - @ 2025 NOAA NGS Emergency Response Imagery: Texas Flooding via Upstream Tech Lens
Hurricane Helene: Imagery documented widespread coastal flooding and property damage, aiding officials in prioritizing areas with severe impact.
River Arts District in North Carolina - @ 2024 NOAA NGS Emergency Response Imagery via Upstream Tech Lens
California Wildfires (LA Fires): Post-fire aerial views revealed burn extents, destroyed structures, and changes in the landscape, informing hazard mitigation and rebuilding strategies.
Malibu, CA - @ 2025 NOAA NGS Emergency Response Imagery via Upstream Tech Lens
What is NOAA's aerial imagery?
NOAA routinely dispatches airborne teams to collect imagery over disaster-impacted regions. These missions provide an unbiased visual record of the event’s impact, supporting a range of use cases including:
- Damage assessment and insurance claims
- Efficient emergency planning and response coordination
- Baseline for tracking long-term recovery and rebuilding progress
- Environmental monitoring and research
NOAA’s imagery is made available to the public after collection, allowing first responders, government agencies, journalists, and local residents to see for themselves the severity of damage.
Learn more and access data directly from NOAA here.
Access through Lens
By bringing NOAA’s open disaster imagery into Lens, we remove technical barriers to make this valuable data easy to use. Users can view affected areas, compare pre- and post-event conditions, and report on disaster impacts such as flooding or fire damage all from Lens. In many cases, this imagery becomes available before it's safe or possible to access sites on the ground, offering a critical early look at conditions.
And this imagery isn’t just useful in the immediate aftermath—it supports continued monitoring as communities rebuild. We hope it helps our users track recovery progress and build toward a more resilient future.
Learn more about Lens plans here or get in touch with our team to get started.
