Beaumont, TX & Southeast Texas
After a hurricane or a hard freeze on the upper Gulf Coast, the first few days decide a lot: what gets documented, what gets claimed, and what gets fixed first. We fly storm damage documentation across Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties and the rest of the Golden Triangle, putting roofs, tree fall, flooding and road access on record from the air while it is still visible.
Storm Damage Drone Documentation
This corner of Texas knows the pattern. Rita in 2005, Ike three years later, Harvey in 2017 and Imelda two years after that each left the same problem behind: thousands of roofs, fences, barns, tree lines and drives damaged at once, adjusters and contractors stretched thin, and the evidence changing by the day as tarps go on, trees come down and water drops. Uri in 2021 did it with ice instead of wind.
A drone gets over what is dangerous or slow to reach on foot. A roof that should not be walked. A pasture full of downed pine. A pond levee that may have slumped. A drive under water, or a road washed out between the house and the highway. From the air all of it can be photographed in a single visit, with the location and time on every image, before the scene changes.
How It Works
Call as soon as you know there is damage, and tell us what you need the record for: an insurance claim, a lender, a contractor's bid, a county, or your own planning.
We confirm that we can legally fly. After a named storm the FAA usually puts temporary flight restrictions over the response area, and flights inside them have to be coordinated through the FAA emergency process and the incident command. We fly your property with your permission, and we do not fly over neighbors who have not agreed to it.
On site we fly a full overview first, then the detail: every roof face, every damaged structure, the tree fall, the drives and the water. Thermal flights happen after sunset. Imagery is organized by structure and area, dated, located and delivered within days, not weeks, because adjusters and contractors are working from it.
The Equipment
Most storm documentation is flown on a DJI Matrice 400 carrying the Zenmuse H30T: a 1280 by 1024 thermal sensor, a 34x zoom camera and a laser rangefinder, which means roof detail and hail or wind damage can be read from a safe height. For acreage, the Zenmuse L3 LiDAR scanner maps what the ground did. Where a site or contract requires Blue UAS hardware, such as a utility, a port or a public agency, we fly the NDAA-compliant Freefly Astro Max with the Gremsy VIO F1 thermal payload.
Aircraft
Flown for: Canopy mapping, thermal and storm flights on private and development land
Thermal, zoom and rangefinder
Flown for: Storm damage, wet roofs, night search and hot spots, with zoom to read detail
Aerial LiDAR scanner
Flown for: Terrain under dense brush: bare earth, contours, drainage and volumes
Aircraft. NDAA compliant, DIU Blue approved, designed and assembled in the USA.
Flown for: Refinery, port, utility and public agency sites that require Blue UAS hardware
Thermal and zoom inspection payload. NDAA compliant.
Flown for: Power line and connection inspection, substations and energy infrastructure
Specifications are the manufacturer's published figures under the manufacturer's test conditions, from enterprise.dji.com, store.freeflysystems.com and gremsy.com, checked September 2026. Flight times carry their conditions on purpose: the Astro Max's 43 minutes is the bare aircraft, and a heavy sensor cuts it to 20. The Astro Max LiDAR payload is not listed because it is not settled; its figures go up when it is. Accuracy on a real job depends on canopy, ground control, weather and flight plan, and what we deliver is mapping data, not a survey. DJI, Matrice and Zenmuse are trademarks of SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd.; Freefly and Astro are trademarks of Freefly Systems; Gremsy and VIO are trademarks of Gremsy. TRP Land Clearing & Excavation is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.
Why TRP
Real examples
These are real photos of storms that hit the Golden Triangle, taken by federal crews, not by us. From the air, a whole neighborhood's roofs, flood lines and fallen trees fit in a single frame. On foot, documenting the same damage takes days.
A documentation flight captures that same overview, then close-ups of every roof face and structure, each image stamped with the date, time and location.
Beaumont, September 1, 2017, after Hurricane Harvey: floodwater through whole subdivisions at once.
U.S. Army photo by Spc. Elizabeth Brown (public domain). Not a TRP project.
Hurricane Rita, 2005. In Sabine Pass, a blue tarp marks every damaged roof. In Port Arthur, a flooded house sits among uprooted trees and a downed power pole.
Ed Edahl / FEMA (public domain). Not a TRP project.
How LiDAR works
Photos show what is on the surface. LiDAR shows what the ground itself did: washouts, new low spots, slumped pond banks and levees, and how far a debris field really runs under the tree fall. Flown before and after the cleanup, it also measures how much was moved.
The example here is real public LiDAR from Hardin County, not our flight. Under a solid canopy sits a whole drainage network: exactly the kind of ground that floods and washes out.
Real Southeast Texas example, about 2 km across, near Lumberton in Hardin County. The photo shows nothing but trees. The LiDAR of the same ground shows what is under them: every branching drainage channel, the old ponds and the road beds. Blue-green is low ground, tan is high.
USGS National Map: 3DEP LiDAR elevation and NAIP aerial imagery (public domain). Rendering by TRP. Not a TRP project.
How thermal works
A thermal camera does not see light, it sees heat. After sunset a building gives back the heat it took in during the day, and wet materials give it back differently from dry ones. That is why water trapped under a roof deck or behind a wall shows up as a distinct patch in thermal, even when the roof looks fine in a photo.
The same camera finds people and animals by body heat at night, and shows electrical equipment that is running hot after a surge or a flood.
Call 409-554-2287 or fill out our form for a no-obligation quote.
Bare-earth terrain under the brush, thermal and storm damage flights, data for your surveyor or engineer
Drone LiDAR terrain data under the brush for Houston-side tracts, control-checked and ready for your surveyor to seal
Thermal and zoom inspection of refineries, terminals, substations and power lines, flown on NDAA-compliant Blue UAS hardware
Clear acreage for building, pasture, or resale
Karl Gillihan, Owner
TRP Land Clearing & Excavation
Updated September 2026
Get a free, no-obligation estimate for your project.