TerraSAR-X satellite monitors Hurricane Harvey, caused Floods in Texas, USA.

The recent growth in the number of natural disasters has become a world-wide event, these disasters, damage hydrological and ecological surroundings and man-made infrastructure, which threatens human life. Satellite images of TerraSAR-X provides valuable support for monitoring these disasters and for post-event crisis management. This data isuseful for early warning and quick damage assessment of flood disasters. It is capable of providing technical and consulting solutions to identify, assess and map flood risk spanning from an urban agglomeration to an entire river catchment area. This data is utilized for flood inundation mapping, flood plain zoning, and river morphological studies.

Recently, Hurricane Harvey caused major floods in Texas, USA. Many homes have been flooded and thousands of people have sought emergency shelter from the wind and rains. Officials estimate that 30,000 residents are likely to need shelter. At least nine people are reported to have been killed in the storm.
 

Fig.1: Image showing affected flood area.© National Weather services

Airbus Defence and Space has acquired TerraSAR-X pre and post imagery of flood affected areas in Texas to support the International Charter and Copernicus Emergency Management Service. The data acquired will assist in assessing the damage and help rescue organizations in the delivery of humanitarian aid.
 

Fig.2: Before and after image of Houston and Corpus Christi. © Airbus Defence and Space

The TerraSAR-X WideScanSar scene shows the coastal area between Houston and Corpus Christi. The scene is overlaid with a flood map showing the extent of water bodies before Hurricane Harvey hit the coast of Texas. The flood map extracted based on a TerraSAR-X image acquired on August 28th at 07:25 am local time shows the devastation caused by the hurricane.
 

Fig.3: Subset scene focuses on the area between Houston in the North and Matagorda Bay in the South.© Airbus Defence and Space.

Summary:

TerraSAR-X provides valuable support for monitoring disasters and for post-event crisis management, which isuseful for early warning andquick damage assessment of flood disasters. Recently, Airbus Defence and Space has acquired TerraSAR-X pre and post imagery of flood affected area in Texas for Emergency Management Service.