Post-flood damage evaluation using Landsat TM and ETM+ data integrated with DEM

In recent decades, radar and optical satellite imagery have been used for evaluating flooding extent. In this paper, a straightforward technique based on the sequential use of the spectral–temporal Principal Component Analysis (PCA), logical filtering and image segmentation integrated with the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was developed as a decisional support tool for the allocations of the resource destined for the flooded areas. The mapping technique was first applied to the catastrophic event that occurred in the Piemonte Region (Italy) in November 1994, which was the worst event of the past century for that region, with 44 casualities and over 2,000 homeless. Next, it was applied to the Obion/Forked Deer inundation that occurred in Tennessee (USA) between November and December 2001, in which heavy damages to the infrastructures were reported. Two Landsat 5-TM (path 194, row 28/29) and two Landsat 7-ETM+ (path 23, row 35) images were processed, two of them collected before and two after the events. The method proposed proved to be an effective approach for evaluating flood extent and for assessing the damages produced by the flooding. An Overall Accuracy (OA) of 85.6%, a User Accuracy (UA) of 87.5% and a Producer Accuracy (PA) of 97.5% were achieved and an agreement of 83% between ground measures and remotely sensed data in the estimation of flood water volumes was also achieved on a regional scale.