Application of Remote Sensing and GIS to Flood Monitoring and Mitigation

In 2002 Thailand was faced with severe flooding in the North, Northeast and Central parts of the country caused by heavy rainfall of the monsoonal depression which brought about significant damages. According to the report by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Agricultural and Co-operatives, the total damages were estimated to be about 6 billion bath. More than 850,000 farmers and 10 million livestock were effected. An area of 1,450,000 ha of farmland in 59 Provinces were put under water for a prolonged period. Satellite imageries were employed for mapping and monitoring the flood-inundated areas, flood damage assessment, flood hazard zoning and post-flood survey of river configuration and protection works. By integrating satellite data with other updated spatial and non-spatial data, likely flood zones can be predicted beforehand. Some examples of satellite data application to flood dis aster mitigation in Thailand during 2002 using mostly Radarsat-1 data and Landsat-7 data were illustrated and discussed in the paper. The results showed that satellite data can clearly identify and give information on the status, flooding period, boundary and damage of flooding. For comprehensive flood mitigation planning, other geo-informatic data, such as the elevation of topography, hydrological data need to be integrated. Ground truth data of the watershed area, including the water level, velocity, drainage pattern and direction were also useful for flood forecasting in the future.