Comment by staplung

It's tempting to interpret this as a proxy for over-all damage but it's perhaps a bit unwise to do so. Alternative possibilities are that internet related infra (power lines, cell towers, roof-mounted dishes, etc.) was disproportionally damaged or that cities in the projected path saw a lot of evacuations. Of course all of these things could be true at the same time. It's an interesting way to try to assess damage in any case because it's automagically collected; you don't need to wait for people on the ground to report damage. So here's hoping that a) those affected can get back on their feet quickly and b) there's some follow-up to see how useful this data was as a proxy for assitance needs.