May 13, 2017
River Floods Russian Town
Rising waters in Siberia inundated the town of Ishim in May 2017, as the Ishim River overflowed its banks. The flood affected thousands of properties in the Tyumen region, according to ReliefWeb.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these false-color images of the area on April 30, 2017, before the river swelled, and on May 13, 2017, as it was flooding. The images combine visible and infrared light using MODIS bands 7-2-1. These wavelengths are good for cutting through haze, revealing water amid land, and showing vegetation and burnt area. Water appears deep blue, vegetated areas are green, and bare ground is brown.
Large amounts of snowmelt caused a dam to collapse, exacerbating the floods, according to ReliefWeb. Footage of the event showed waterlogged houses and officials evacuating people and animals to higher ground.
References & Resources
- Relief Web (2017, May 23) Russian Federation: Floods - May 2017. Accessed May 25.
- Rossiya 24 (2017, May 10) Ishim goes under water: reporting from a flooded city. Accessed May 25.
- TASS (2017, May 13) Water level declines slightly in Ishim River in flood-hit Siberian region. Accessed May 25.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, using data from the Level 1 and Atmospheres Active Distribution System (LAADS). Story by Pola Lem.
