From their early start in May and continuing into August 2006, India’s monsoon rains brought flooding to most regions of the country. On August 19, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the top image of floods in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh. Most noticeably, the Krishna River has swollen compared to its extent in early July, before the rains started in this region. Extensive flooding is also visible along the tributaries of the Krishna, which branch away from the river in pale blue veins like the branches of a winter-bare tree. In the lower-right corner of the image, water darkens the wetland between the Krishna and the Godavari River, which is just beyond the right edge of the image. Additional flooding is visible along the Godavari in the large image. Between August 1 and August 21, floods in Andhra Pradesh killed 106 people and forced 543,000 from their homes, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory.
These images are shown in false color so that water ranges from black to light blue. The few small clouds in the scenes are white and pale blue. Plant-covered land is bright green, and sparsely vegetated or bare ground is tan-pink.
NASA images created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team and the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC.
