Embankment breach: ZKI maps flooding in India/Nepal

On August 18, 2008, the Koshi River breached an embankment, causing flooding in the Sunsari district as well as further South in the Supaul district of Bihar, which is situated 7 kilometres downstream in India. It also inundated the districts of Madhepura, Araria, Purnea and Saharsa. After the breach, the River Koshi, which separates India from Nepal, changed its course resulting in more than 250,000 destroyed homes in 1,600 villages and a total of 3 million affected people. Damaged roads and flooded railway tracks have hampered relief efforts. The map illustrates the flooded area south of the breached embankment with many flooded settlements, roads and agricultural land. The analysis is based on TerraSAR-X StripMap and ScanSAR data acquired on August 30 and September 1, 2008. The repetition rate of data acquisition could be accelerated significantly by using the unique left-looking recording ability of TerraSAR-X for the September 1 data take. Map production was carried out in the framework of the project SAR-HQ, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).