Flood Events

Flooding in Hyderabad, Telangana, India (14 Oct 2020)

There is an unexpected and unprecedented flow of water at many locations in Hyderabad from 10 Oct to 14 Oct 2020 due to heavy rainfall, lack of efficient drainage system and cyclone formation in Bay of Bengal. "Nine persons, including a child, were crushed to death while three persons were injured after a boulder fell on their house at the Bandlaguda area of Hyderabad, following heavy rainfall in the city, police said (Source: https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2020/oct/14/ninedead-as-hyderabad-continues-to-get-heavy-showers-for-second-straight-day-2209841.html)". The water level in Hussain Sagar has increased rapidly and reached its full capacity. Many locations in Hyderabad and its surroundings like Chandrayanagutta, Hassan Nagar, Tallabkatta, Osmannagar, and Teegalkunta are flooded and houses were damaged and filled with rain water. Many housing colonies in Asifnagar and Tolichowki, Meerpet and Balapur were also flooded with knee-deep water. The sentinel-1 & 2 acquired during Sep and Oct 2020 highlighted the change in water levels as shown below.

Flooding in New Delhi, India (July, 2020)

Due to unprecedented heavy rainfall in New Delhi slum clusters washed away which led to the death of many people. Several locations and lifeline networks of the Delhi city were flooded, and the depth of floodwater was so heavy. The Sentinel-1 image was acquired during the receding flooding; subsequently, the flooded areas are not highlighted prominently.

Flooding in Gorakhpur, UP, India (Jul 2020)

The Central Water Commission (CWC) announced severe flood alert on 17 Jul 2020 and it is expected that a 7 cm fall in Rapti river by 18 Jul 2020 early morning. The earth observation images available in the duration of flood event are used to monitor the temporal dynamics of flood. Below are the timelapse images generated using Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 satellites.

Flooding due to Amphan cyclone in various location of West Bengal, India (May, 2020)

Cyclone Amphan is expected to make landfall in India on 20 May, on the coasts of India and Bangladesh between the Sagar Islands in West Bengal and the Hatiya Islands in Bangladesh. The storm is currently Category Four on the Saffir-Simpson scale, but when it entered the Bay of Bengal on 18 May it was the strongest storm on record in the area and classified as a Super Cyclone. The storm had wind speeds of 270 kilometres per hour, but has since weakened to 200 kilometres per hour. The strong winds are expected to cause damage and the storm is forecast to bring heavy rain causing flooding. Storm surges of up to 4 metres are expected in some areas.

Officials are working to evacuate people in the affected areas (estimated to be as many as 300,000) but are finding it difficult to relocate the evacuees. Due to the Coronavirus, many in the country are under lockdown, and space in emergency shelters is limited due to distancing measures. While the shelters would normally accommodate as many as 500,000, they now may only have capacity for half that number. (Source: https://disasterscharter.org/web/guest/activations/-/article/storm-hurricane-urban-in-india-activation-653-)

2018 Flood Event of Kerala, India.

Kerala, a southern state of India witnessed a disastrous flood during Aug 2018. There were three major rainfall spells from Jul to Aug 2018. The situation got worse due to heavy rainfall combined with dam water release, strom surge, land slides and improper urban planning. Various EO datasets such Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and ALOS-2 images are used to analyze the flood event. From the results, it is understood that three districts i.e. Kottayam, Alapphuza, Thrisssur are heavily affected by floods. The preliminary flood map created by our team (V. S. K. Vanama, CUSE, IITB and Unmesh Khati, M. Musthafa from CRPL lab, CSRE, IITB) is given below.

Also, some organisations/researchers like IIRS, ISRO, NASA, Rainfall simulation by NASA, DFO-NASA, ESA, UN & ADB, Wetlands Org, UN-SPIDER, Charater Activations by ISRO, CWC-India and MD Madhusudan used GEE etc. have analyzed the Kerala flood event occurred during Aug 2018.