Application of Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing on Flood Hazard Assessment and its Impact on Agriculture: A Review

Flood refers to the accretion or overflowing of water over generally dry or unsubmerged land. It is one of the most devastating, large scale disasters throughout the world that cause huge loss of human and animal lives and properties. The leading cause behind flood occurrence is natural or anthropogenic impact. Previous researches proved that Geospatial technology has the potentiality to monitor and assess flood and its associated phenomena from micro scale to a broad scale. Geographical Information Systems and remote sensing are versatile technologies that can help in flood hazard monitoring and minimize its adverse effect on society from the perspective of disaster management. This chapter highlights the concept of flood and monitoring, mapping, and assessment of flood hazards using GIS and remote sensing. The mapping of inundated areas and identification of their gradual spatio-temporal changes have been illustrated in this chapter. Flood forecasting and early warning systems using different satellite images and real-time hydro-meteorological data have been focused on in this study. Flood-prone regions, which are based on an agrarian economy, are very much vulnerable to flood. This chapter aims to demonstrate the application of geospatial technology to flood-induced agricultural disasters and the associated impact of floods on agriculture.