ISRO provided 33 flood inundation maps to Assam this monsoon to aid relief operations: Centre

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) provided 33 flood inundation maps and value-added products to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) during the ongoing monsoon season to support flood monitoring, rescue and relief operations, the Centre informed Parliament.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the maps and products were supplied up to July 28 using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical satellite data through the National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM).

Flood inundation maps provide near real-time and historical information on flood-prone areas, helping authorities plan rescue and relief operations, regulate developmental activities in floodplains and assess flood impacts.

The minister said SAR technology enables all-weather, day-and-night imaging, while optical satellite data provides high-resolution imagery under clear weather conditions.

Singh said the flood inundation maps are part of several initiatives undertaken by ISRO to improve district-level flood monitoring and enhance the timeliness of disaster response in Assam.

These initiatives include the use of globally available satellite data, development of semi-automated sensor-specific data processing algorithms, flood-mapping workflows and the generation of district-level flood reports.

"The spatial flood inundation data is published on the National Database for Emergency Management (NDEM) portal for visualisation at the district and sub-district levels. High-resolution satellite data is also used to assess flood damage at the district level, subject to the availability of cloud-free satellite imagery," the minister said.