Recommended Practice: Flood Mapping and Damage Assessment using Sentinel-1 SAR data in Google Earth Engine
Floods, as natural disasters, are most commonly caused by storms and torrential rain or by overflowing lakes, rivers or oceans; this type of natural disaster is one of the most common and effects nearly every demographic and area on Earth. As they are wide-ranging disasters, floods leave disaster managers with a wide-range of concerns. The immediate concern during a disaster is that of human life and the infrastructure needed to offer emergency response through. Floods can wash away bridges and buildings, can destroy electricity systems and can even disconnect portions of cities or rural communities from the first responders who need to reach them. Long-term concerns caused by major floods focus on systemic damage; food is often the most serious concern as crops are destroyed and livestock drowns in major flood disasters.
This Recommended Practice aims to create important disaster information for both the short- and long-term concerns of floods. The tool produces a flood extent map using Sentitnel-1 SAR images, as well as displays information about cropland and population centers affected in order to address the totality of major concerns that floods cause.
