May 18, 2023 - Flooding in Myanmar

[image05182023_main.jpg] [image05182023_rollover.jpg]

May 17, 2023 May 8, 2023
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Tropical Cyclone Mocha brought destruction, power outages, landslides,
and flooding to Myanmar after making landfall near Sittwe in Rakhine
state on March 14, 2023. The storm came ashore carrying winds of 130
miles per hour (209 km/h), placing it in Category 4 on the
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Within 24 hours, Mocha had
weakened to a tropical depression well inland.

On May 17, ReliefWeb an electronic publication by the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported,
“One of the strongest storms to hit Myanmar in decades has left aid
agencies battling flooding and blocked roads to provide life-saving aid
to affected communities…Almost 5.4 million people across Rakhine state
and the northwest are estimated to have been in the path of Cyclone
Mocha, which devastated homes, schools and vital infrastructure.”
Bangladesh, located west of Myanmar, also sustained damage although not
as severe as Rakhine state and northwestern Myanmar.

Due to widespread power outages, inaccessibility of many areas, and
issues caused by civil unrest, early estimates of damage in Myanmar are
limited. The number of people repeated killed due to the storm by news
media, as of May 17, was as high as 202. However, there is concern that
“hundreds” may have perished.

On May 17, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of the western
coast of Myanmar inundated from extensive flooding from Tropical
Cyclone Mocha. This type of image uses infrared and visible light to
help separate vegetation, which appears green, from water, which looks
blue or black (deeper water is darker). To appreciate the extent of
flooding, click on the dates below the image to toggle between this
image and another Terra MODIS false-color image captured of the same
area on May 8, which was well before Mocha began to impact the area.

The city of Sittwe sits just north and west of the center of the image,
on a squared-off island that appears much like a peninsula on May 8. It
has been completely cut off from the mainland and much reduced in size
on May 17. Tropical Cyclone Mocha passed north of Sittwe, moving
towards the northeast and inland.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 5/17/2023
Resolutions: 1km (179.4 KB), 500m (369.8 KB), 250m (227.7
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=2023-05-18

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