September 3, 2021 - Flooding in Louisiana
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Hurricane Ida slammed into the United States on August 29, 2021, coming
ashore at Port Fourchon, Louisiana with sustained winds of 150 miles
per hour (240 km/h). This tied two other hurricanes—Hurricane Laura
(2021) and an 1856 storm—for the strongest landfall on record in the
state of Louisiana. After battering Louisiana with wind and water, Ida
travelled across northern Mississippi, the Tennessee Valley, and part
of West Virginia, finally weakening to a post-tropical remnant on
September 1. Even as a remnant, Ida packed a devastating punch. As it
stormed across Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New
York, Ida’s remnants spawned tornadoes, doused the region with
torrential rains, and caused severe flooding. As of September 2, Ida
has claimed more than 40 lives—most of those in the Northeast.
While the Northeast was feeling the wrath of Ida, Louisiana continued
to struggle with the aftermath of a direct hit of the vicious
hurricane. The wind was only the first chapter of the tragic trilogy
written by the catastrophic storm. Storm surge and torrential rain were
chapter two and three. While the wind left severe destruction, it
passed on relatively quickly. The inundation and flooding along the
Gulf Coast, while less dramatic, has been slow to abate.
On September 2, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false color image
illustrating massive flooding in southeastern Louisiana. This type of
image uses short-wave infrared, infrared, and red light to help
contrast water and vegetation. Here, vegetation appears bright green
while water looks deep blue. Cloud appears white, except high, cold
clouds which are tinted light blue. Vegetated area that is saturated
with water may appear darker green than the surrounding dryer
vegetation.
It’s clear from this single image that much of the region remains
significantly flooded from Hurricane Ida’s rains and storm surge. To
really understand the extent of the inundation, however, it’s best to
compare with a pre-hurricane image of the same area. Thanks to the NASA
Worldview App, it’s easy to view a comparison with the same area on
August 5, prior to the flood, by clicking here
Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 9/2/2021
Resolutions: 1km (182.9 KB), 500m (472.5 KB), 250m (306 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=2021-09-03
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