Geomatics and Remote Sensing

 

Manitoba Remote Sensing Centre

Flood Monitoring System (MFMS) 

Emergency measures personnel who plan flood relief operations require reliable information for decision making. Accurate and timely information on flood extent is useful for planning purposes such as where to evacuate, where to deploy resources to minimize infrastructure damage and to carry out search and rescue operations.

The MRSC was given the responsibility of putting in place a Flood Monitoring System (FMS) that would generate digital and hard-copy map products displaying the extent of the 1997 Red River flood during the evolution of the flood, and provide statistics necessary to determine impact on infrastructure and the land use/land cover.

RADARSAT data were used to generate the information on the 1997 Red River flood in near real-time. Thirteen days of imagery were acquired, starting on April 21, 1997, and ending June 7, 1997 (flood image index). Arrangements were put in place so that the MRSC received the RADARSAT data within four hours of acquisition by the satellite receiving station in Quebec. In less than six hours the RADARSAT was processed, along with the associated statistics. The flood peaked on May 4, 1997 and there was RADARSAT imagery available.

This flood was the second-largest flood in recorded history, exceeded only by the 1826 flood. The sample image shows the central part of the Red River Valley and was captured on May 4, 1997. The image was created by combining flood information generated from the RADARSAT image with LANDSAT imagery.