The baseline and responsive documentation-and immediate dissemination-of technical (aerial, hyperspectral, etc.) imagery of flooding is tremendously practical.
Forensic LiDAR and “engineering grade” or “survey grade” LiDAR (LASER Scanning) are very different things. Applications in which engineering and survey LiDAR conventions are manifestly deficient include litigation and its ADR cousins (mediation, arbitration, etc.).
Photographically-generated Point Clouds may be a profound liability in a forensic/contentious or other otherwise critical application.