Satellite Images for Extraction of Flood Disaster Footprints and Assessing the Disaster Impact:Brahmaputra Floods of June-July 2012, Assam, India

Satellite images provide information on the flood disaster footprints, which is essential for assessing the disaster impact and taking up flood mitigation activities. The Brahmaputra floods that occurred during June-July 2012 devastated a large part of Assam. This article discusses the maximum spatial extent affected due to the flood event, villages marooned and population affected, with the aid of multi-temporal satellite images coupled with the hydrological observations and freely available gridded population data. The study shows that about 4.65 lakh ha area was submerged, 23 of the 27 districts in Assam had more than 5% of the total geographical area submerged, about 3829 villages marooned and 23.08 lakh people were affected. Identification of the spatial extent of areas most vulnerable to flooding, captured from the satellite images acquired during the peak flood period will be helpful for prioritizing appropriate flood control measures in the flood-affected regions.