Heavy Rainfall Leads to Deadly Floods in India

According to reports published by the Hindustan Times newspaper, the Indian state of Orissa has been plagued by massive floods throughout September. The heavy rainfall that caused the disasters came in two waves, one at the beginning of the months, and the second one a few days ago.

The newspaper indicates that the second wave of heavy rain led to the deaths of 27 people who were trapped by the surging waters. The American space agency is now providing the first space-based images of how the area looks like after the flood.

Experts managing the NASA Terra satellite used the The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the spacecraft to capture the above image yesterday, September 27. The bodies of water are the Brahmani and Mahanadi Rivers near the Bay of Bengal.

The images contain data collected in both visible-light and infrared wavelengths. This technique was applied to that the contrast between water and land becomes clearer. In this image, vegetation is colored green, land is light brown and clouds in off-white to pale blue-green.