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Floods in Uganda
| Title |
Floods in Uganda |
| Description |
Flooded rivers in Central Uganda cut off access to some northern and eastern sections of the country in mid-September 2007, reported the Monitor, a Kampala (Uganda) news service, on September 18. Like many other countries in western, central, and eastern Africa, Uganda faced severe flooding as a result of unusually heavy rains from July through September. By September 18, the floods had killed at least 10 and affected about 300,000 people in Uganda, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LSGZ-776J4Z?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000138-UGA ]). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image of the most flooded part of Uganda on September 18. The image on the right was taken on May 18 and shows the region under normal conditions. The images were made with infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. Water is black or dark blue, and plant-covered land is green. Clouds are light blue and white. Floods widen the rivers flowing into Lake Bisina in the September image. Water pools in the U-shaped bends of the Kelim River east of the lake, and the Okok and Okere Rivers to the north are swollen. Traces of black define smaller rivers that weren't visible in May. In addition to causing the floods shown here, the unrelenting rain destroyed up to 90 percent of the crops in some regions and caused many traditional mud-brick homes to collapse, said OCHA. The floods also contaminated water supplies, increasing the potential for an outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera. Uganda was just of one many African countries that were flooded in September 2007. As many as 17 countries and more than a million people were affected by flooding across Africa, reported BBC News on September 17. Images of flood areas in Nigeria, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14532 ] Ghana, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14528 ] Senegal, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14526 ] Mali, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14534 ] and Sudan [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14499 ] are available on the Earth Observatory. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/ ] of Africa's Sahel region, where the floods were concentrated, are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Uganda
| Title |
Floods in Uganda |
| Description |
Flooded rivers in Central Uganda cut off access to some northern and eastern sections of the country in mid-September 2007, reported the Monitor, a Kampala (Uganda) news service, on September 18. Like many other countries in western, central, and eastern Africa, Uganda faced severe flooding as a result of unusually heavy rains from July through September. By September 18, the floods had killed at least 10 and affected about 300,000 people in Uganda, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LSGZ-776J4Z?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000138-UGA ]). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image of the most flooded part of Uganda on September 18. The image on the right was taken on May 18 and shows the region under normal conditions. The images were made with infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. Water is black or dark blue, and plant-covered land is green. Clouds are light blue and white. Floods widen the rivers flowing into Lake Bisina in the September image. Water pools in the U-shaped bends of the Kelim River east of the lake, and the Okok and Okere Rivers to the north are swollen. Traces of black define smaller rivers that weren't visible in May. In addition to causing the floods shown here, the unrelenting rain destroyed up to 90 percent of the crops in some regions and caused many traditional mud-brick homes to collapse, said OCHA. The floods also contaminated water supplies, increasing the potential for an outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera. Uganda was just of one many African countries that were flooded in September 2007. As many as 17 countries and more than a million people were affected by flooding across Africa, reported BBC News on September 17. Images of flood areas in Nigeria, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14532 ] Ghana, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14528 ] Senegal, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14526 ] Mali, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14534 ] and Sudan [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14499 ] are available on the Earth Observatory. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/ ] of Africa's Sahel region, where the floods were concentrated, are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Seasonal Rain Floods the Sah
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| Title |
Seasonal Rain Floods the Sahel |
| Description |
Africa's Sahel region, a margin of semi-arid grassland around the southern limit of the Sahara Desert, gets most of its rainfall between June and September when the band of near-perpetual thunderstorms [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4028 ] that hover around the equator shifts north. In 2007, the final months of the rainy season brought unusually heavy rainfall to much of the Sahel and the tropical savannas to its south, causing floods in river basins from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean coasts of the continent. This image illustrates how extensive the extreme rainfall was. The image was made with data collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite between August 20 and September 21, 2007. The average daily totals recorded during this period are compared with average rainfall totals recorded during the same period since TRMM's launch in 1997. Regions that received more rain per day than average are blue and green, while places that received less rain are yellow to red. Most of the southern Sahel received more rain per day than average in August and September. Some places, marked with pale blue, got as much as 15 millimeters more rain than average per day. The northern Sahel, by contrast, was slightly drier than average, as indicated by its pale yellow tint. The unusually heavy rains caused flooding in as many as 17 countries and affected more than a million people across Africa, reported BBC News on September 17. Some of the flooded countries are labeled in this image. Images of flood areas in Nigeria, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14532 ] Ghana, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14528 ] Senegal, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14526 ] Mali, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14534 ] Uganda, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14536 ] Chad, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14538 ] and Sudan [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14499 ] are available on the Earth Observatory. For those areas that escaped flooding, the rains were beneficial, since farmers in the Sahel rely on rain to water their crops, reported the Famine Early Warning System Network on September 19. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) |
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Floods in Chad
| Title |
Floods in Chad |
| Description |
Ghana, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14528 ] Senegal, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14526 ] Mali, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14534 ] Uganda, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14536 ] and Sudan [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14499 ] are available on the Earth Observatory. Daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/ ] of Africa's Sahel region, where the floods were concentrated, are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC., The Sahel grassland is a rain-dependent ecosystem. With no mountain snowpacks to provide water during the dry season or daily infusions of water from moist air masses, the fortunes of the great African grasslands depend entirely on seasonal rain. The contrast between the dry season and the rainy season is illustrated by this pair of images, both captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. MODIS took the top image on September 18, 2007, after several weeks of unusually heavy rain had fallen over the Sahel. At the time, as many as 17 countries were flooded, from Senegal, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, to Kenya on the continent's east coast. The lower image was taken on July 4, 4007, a short time before the rains started in earnest. The images show Lake Firtri and the Batha River in southern Chad, a short distance east of Lake Chad. In the combination of infrared and visible light used to create these images, water is typically black, though in this case, it is bright blue. Sediment in the water scatters light, creating the blue color. In July, the only visible water is in Lake Fitri. Traces of green vegetation in the wetlands around the lake and along the Batha River are the only indication that water might be present elsewhere in the scene. Beyond these green areas, the landscape around the lake is mostly the rosy tan of barren land. The cluster of waves in the land to the north of Lake Fitri is likely a dune field along the southernmost edge of the Sahara Desert. Clouds, turquoise blue in this false-color image, gather on the southern edge of the scene. By September 18, water had changed southern Chad completely. The region went from dry to flooded. Lake Fitri had nearly doubled in size as the wetlands filled with water. The Batha River ran high, its channel clearly defined by a bold blue line of water. The land is vibrant green, covered with the grasses that sprang up in response to the rains. The rains and resulting floods cut off or severely hampered access to refugee camps along Chad's southeastern border with the Darfur region of Sudan, making the delivery of supplies difficult, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a report [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/LRON-778HGZ?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000151-TCD ] issued on September 20. The rains were expected to continue through early October. Chad was just one of many African countries that were flooded in September 2007. As many as 17 countries and more than a million people were affected by flooding across Africa, reported BBC News on September 17. Images of flood areas in Nigeria, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14532 ] |
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Floods in Uganda: Natural Ha
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nasa, nasanaturalhazards
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
Uganda_TMO_2007261
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-18 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
Uganda_TMO_2007261 |
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Seasonal Rain Floods the Sah
…
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
Africa's Sahel region, a mar
…
AfricaRain_TRM_2007264
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day |
| identifier |
AfricaRain_TRM_2007264 |
|
Floods in Chad: Image of the
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nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
* eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/ima
…
Chad_TMO_2007261
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-18 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA images courtesy the rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. |
| identifier |
Chad_TMO_2007261 |
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Seasonal Rain Floods Africa'
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nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Africa's Sahel region, a mar
…
ge_08072
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the pps.gsfc.nasa.gov/tsdis.html TRMM Science Data and Information System at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
ge_08072 |
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Seasonal Rain Floods Africa'
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Africa's Sahel region, a mar
…
ge_08072
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the pps.gsfc.nasa.gov/tsdis.html TRMM Science Data and Information System at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
ge_08072 |
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Seasonal Rain Floods Africa'
…
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle
…
Africa's Sahel region, a mar
…
ge_08072
| mediatype |
IMAGE |
| mediatype |
image |
| date |
2007-09-21 |
| creator |
NASA -- NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the pps.gsfc.nasa.gov/tsdis.html TRMM Science Data and Information System at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
| identifier |
ge_08072 |
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