August 24, 2022 - Flooding in Pakistan

Flooding in Pakistan
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Extremely heavy monsoonal storms have drenched Pakistan in 2022,
bringing flash and urban flooding, landslides, and Glacial Lake
Outburst flooding—creating a disaster that is affecting more than 3
million people. According to a report published August 13 by the United
Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA),
Pakistan received more than 60 percent of its total normal monsoon
rainfall in just three weeks since the start of the monsoon season in
July. Compared to pre-monsoon levels, rainfall has increased by 267
percent in Balochistan and 183 percent in Sindh.

On August 23, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
reported that 830 people had been killed from the disastrous rains from
June 14, 2022, to date, with an additional 1,348 injured. They also
reported that 93,775 houses had been damaged in just the last 24 hours,
with a total of 413,226 damaged since June 14. The cumulative length of
roads damaged are currently 2,886.9 kilometers and more than 707,000
head of livestock have been killed. Three major reservoirs are at or
near capacity: Tarbela is completely full, Mangla is just 64.15 feet of
storage capacity remaining, and Chasma has only 7 feet remaining.

Unfortunately, little relief from rain is in sight. The forecast in the
NDMA report on August 23 reads, “Widespread thunderstorm/rain of heavy
to very heavy intensity at scattered places and extremely heavy falls
at isolated places is expected over lower and central Sindh. Scattered
to widespread thunderstorm/rain of moderate to HEAVY INTENSITY with
isolated very heavy falls is expected over Eastern Balochistan and DG
Khan, Multan, DI Khan, Bannu, Kohat, Peshawar & Sargodha Divisions
along with Upper catchments of Rivers Kabul and Indus. Scattered
thunderstorm/rain of moderate intensity is expected over the upper
catchments of Rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi & Sutlej along with Islamabad
and Rawalpindi & Gujranwala Divisions. Isolated thunderstorm/ rain is
expected over rest of the country except Western Balochistan.”

On August 23, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image
showing extreme flooding of the Indus River in the Sindh province of
Pakistan. This type of image uses infrared and visible light (MODIS
bands 7,2,1) to help distinguish water from land. Water appears various
shades of blue, depending on depth and any sediment in the water, with
the deepest water looking the darkest. Vegetation looks bright green
and open or sparsely vegetated land looks tan. Cloud ranges from white
to electric blue. This image clearly shows the Indus River overflowing
its banks and inundating the broad flood plain. Lake Hamal bounds the
western edge of the inundation.

While this single image tells a striking tale of intense flooding, the
situation becomes even more clear by comparing two MODIS images
captured of the same region on different days. Thanks to the NASA
Worldview App, this is very simple to visualize. To compare an image of
the region acquired by Aqua’s MODIS on August 5 with the one acquired
on August 23, simply click here. The imagery becomes even more
sobering when one realizes that on August 5 the region was already
experiencing a significant flooding event after more than seven weeks
of severe monsoon rains.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/23/2022
Resolutions: 1km (331 KB), 500m (826.5 KB), 250m (496.5 KB)
Bands Used: 7.2.1
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-08-24

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