Hurricane Floyd flood mapping integrating Landsat 7 TM satellite imagery and DEM data.

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Capturing the extent of flooding during an extreme event in an efficient manner is essential for response, recovery, and mitigation activities. An efficient and economical method for mapping flood extent in a coastal floodplain is described in this paper. The method was based on classifying water and non-water features on two Landsat 7 thematic mapper (TM) images (acquired before and during the flood event), then performing a change detection analysis to identify floodwaters. Digital elevation model (DEM) data were also integrated into the analysis to model floodplain inundation and identify flooded areas underneath forest canopies. Within Pitt County, North Carolina, the primary land cover types most affected by flooding were bottomland forest/hardwood swamps, southern yellow pine, and cultivated land. The method proved to be reliable and could be applied quickly using data that are relatively inexpensive, easy to obtain, and easy to analyze. This method should work well in similar areas of large spatial extent and flat terrain