Flying Rubber Neckers Disrupt Drone Work in Texas Recovery
- Drone ‘disaster tourism’ mars response in wake of Harvey
- Seminal moment for drone industry as they flock to help
How Drones Are Helping the Harvey Relief Efforts
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As they flew a fleet of drones over flood-ravaged Texas to aid rescuers and inspect levees, Robin Murphy and her team of disaster-response veterans expected to be operating in nearly empty skies.
What they saw instead when they called up a drone-tracking application in Fort Bend County southwest of Houston were whirling flocks of camera-carrying vehicles flying in spite of a federal prohibition on all but a handful of specially approved operations.