Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Flooding in Columbia, SC




Recently there has been a lot of flooding in Columbia, South Carolina. I thought remote sensing could offer a unique opportunity to show how far the flooding had spread.  Although it may be difficult to see the relative depth of the water, it very easy to quickly get an idea of how much area is covered in water via aerial images. After a quick google search it was clear that multiple media outlets had coverage of the flooding which included aerial images. The article below is one example of many articles that used aerial imagery to assist in the coverage of this natural disaster.

The Washington Post in particular had a couple of good examples of what the area looked like both before and during the flooding. The first set of images show farmland in the area near Columbia. Throughout the image it’s clear that the agriculture in the area is going to be hugely effected by the massive amounts of water. The second set of images shows the before and after shots of a local river. What is most striking about these images is the two bridges that span the river. Both are completely wiped out! These images show that remote sensing can be useful in detecting all kinds of damages cause by floods and other natural disasters.



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