Estimated post-flood effects through free, full and open satellite remote sensing data to support civil protection

Abstract

A flood is a relatively high flow of water that overtops the natural and artificial banks in any of the reaches of a stream. When banks are overtopped, water spreads over flood plain and generally causes problem for inhabitants, crops and vegetation. During extreme flood events, it is important to determine quickly the extent of flooding and land use under water. Flood maps can be applied to develop comprehensive relief effort immediately after flooding. There are varieties of issues and uncertainties involved in flood mapping. Remotely sensed data can be used to develop flood map in an efficient and effective way. In this paper different techniques of flood mapping using active and passive remote sensing systems are applied, so that a final flood inundation map has been prepared by combining all data within a Geographical Information System (GIS) environment. The flood inundation maps can be further used for quick identification of areas of potential flood hazard to minimize the flood losses.