  Puerto Rico suffered severe damage from the category 5 hurricane (Maria) in
September 2017. Total monetary damages are estimated to be ~92 billion USD, the
third most costly tropical cyclone in US history. The response to this damage
has been tempered and slow moving, with recent estimates placing 45% of the
population without power three months after the storm. Consequently, we
developed a unique data-fusion mapping approach called the Urban Development
Index (UDI) and new open source tool, Comet Time Series (CometTS), to analyze
the recovery of electricity and infrastructure in Puerto Rico. Our approach
incorporates a combination of time series visualizations and change detection
mapping to create depictions of power or infrastructure loss. It also provides
a unique independent assessment of areas that are still struggling to recover.
For this workflow, our time series approach combines nighttime imagery from the
Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer
Suite (NPP VIIRS), multispectral imagery from two Landsat satellites, US Census
data, and crowd-sourced building footprint labels. Based upon our approach we
can identify and evaluate: 1) the recovery of electrical power compared to
pre-storm levels, 2) the location of potentially damaged infrastructure that
has yet to recover from the storm, and 3) the number of persons without power
over time. As of May 31, 2018, declined levels of observed brightness across
the island indicate that 13.9% +/- ~5.6% of persons still lack power and/or
that 13.2% +/- ~5.3% of infrastructure has been lost. In comparison, the Puerto
Rico Electric Power Authority states that less than 1% of their customers still
are without power.
