Severe flooding in northern Namibia

Similar to the year before, severe flooding affected northern Namibia due to heavy local rains and inflow of water from northern regions during late February and March 2009. Due to the complex drainage pattern in the region, satellite observation is an important tool to provide an overview of the large area flood situation, which is of very patchy character in the areas affected. Analysis of a sequence of satellite imagery taken between 20th February and 6th March over the northern Omusati region shows that water levels were rising in the flood area and partly surpassed the levels of March 2008.