Abstract:
In our country an area of about 42 M.ha. is susceptible to floods every year resulting in a corresponding average annual losses of Rs. 2500 crores in monetary terms. Conventional methods of assessing flooded area and consequent damages are subjective and too time consuming. Remote Sensing on the other hand is objective and on near real time. Although remote sensing is not a substitute for conventional methods, yet it saves a lot of effort and time. Remotely sensed data either in the digital format or in the imagery form can be quickly analysed on a computer or visually, as the case may be, to provide reliable estimates of flooded area and resulting damages. Over the past one decade sufficient expertise has been built up in the country and the methodology operationalised in flood mapping. With more satellites in orbit, availability of microwave data anticipated in near future to get over the problem of cloud cover, it is expected that flood damage assessment will be refined and routinised.
