Images
September 13, 2022 - Flooding in Cameroon
Tweet
A travel website describes Cameroon as, “Africa’s throbbing heart, a sultry mosaic of active volcanoes, white-sand beaches, thick rainforest and magnificent parched landscapes broken up by the bizarre rock formation of the Sahel”. With a richly divergent landscape packed into a country slightly larger than the U.S. state of California, the country sits in West-Central Africa, nestled between Nigeria in the west; Chad in the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; then Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea in the south. It also enjoys almost 14 miles of coastline along the Gulf of Guinea. The population, which tends to be young—60 percent are under 25 years of age, according to the CIA World Factbook—live primarily in the western coastal area and the north. In addition to the normal population, more than 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and about 70,000 Nigerian refugees live in the north, near the borders with Nigeria and Chad.
The northern part of the country enjoys a warm, tropical climate. The dry season brings sunshine and hot temperatures from October to May. Each year, rains begin to fall in June and continue through September. Floods are common in the rainy season, as rivers swell and spill into the floodplains. At times, the flooding can be catastrophic.
The 2022 rainy season in Cameroon started early and vigorously, with flash floods in Bamenda, the capital of North West Region, killing two people on June 26. By June 30, flooding in Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon, killed at least one other person. On August 11, a rain-triggered landslide in Widikum, North West Region, killed five people and injured several more. On that date, floods also inundated parts of the South West Region and caused widespread damage.
On September 12, the Voice of America (VOA) reported that weeks of flooding along the northern borders with Chad and Nigeria was so severe that Cameroon’s officials say that entire villages have been swept away, leaving thousands homeless. The August and September floods have devastated cropland in the north, which is considered a breadbasket for the region, raising concerns of hunger following the floods, especially if the rains delay the new planting season that begins in October. VOA also reports that Christophe Bring, the head of department for studies and projects at Cameroon’s environment ministry, “said the ongoing floods in northern Cameroon are caused by heavy rainfall resulting from tropical weather disruptions, deforestation and improper agricultural practices. He said thousands of families have gone homeless because they constructed houses and settlements in flood plains."
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image of severe flooding in northern Cameroon on September 7, 2022. Using the NASA Worldview App, we compare this image with an Aqua MODIS image acquired of the same area on August 6, 2022. To visualize the comparison, simply click on the arrow on the image and move your cursor back and forth. Although rains had already caused flooding in some areas on August 6, the change in widespread inundation only a month later is obvious.
Scientists use this type of false color image, which uses visible light and near infrared light (MODIS bands 7,2,1) to help separate water, which appears deep blue, from vegetation, which looks bright green. Open or sparsely vegetated land looks tan while cloud may look white or tinted with electric blue.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 9/7/2022
Resolutions:
1km (360.1 KB), 500m (969.6 KB), 250m (587.6 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Tweet
A travel website describes Cameroon as, “Africa’s throbbing heart, a sultry mosaic of active volcanoes, white-sand beaches, thick rainforest and magnificent parched landscapes broken up by the bizarre rock formation of the Sahel”. With a richly divergent landscape packed into a country slightly larger than the U.S. state of California, the country sits in West-Central Africa, nestled between Nigeria in the west; Chad in the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; then Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea in the south. It also enjoys almost 14 miles of coastline along the Gulf of Guinea. The population, which tends to be young—60 percent are under 25 years of age, according to the CIA World Factbook—live primarily in the western coastal area and the north. In addition to the normal population, more than 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and about 70,000 Nigerian refugees live in the north, near the borders with Nigeria and Chad.
The northern part of the country enjoys a warm, tropical climate. The dry season brings sunshine and hot temperatures from October to May. Each year, rains begin to fall in June and continue through September. Floods are common in the rainy season, as rivers swell and spill into the floodplains. At times, the flooding can be catastrophic.
The 2022 rainy season in Cameroon started early and vigorously, with flash floods in Bamenda, the capital of North West Region, killing two people on June 26. By June 30, flooding in Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon, killed at least one other person. On August 11, a rain-triggered landslide in Widikum, North West Region, killed five people and injured several more. On that date, floods also inundated parts of the South West Region and caused widespread damage.
On September 12, the Voice of America (VOA) reported that weeks of flooding along the northern borders with Chad and Nigeria was so severe that Cameroon’s officials say that entire villages have been swept away, leaving thousands homeless. The August and September floods have devastated cropland in the north, which is considered a breadbasket for the region, raising concerns of hunger following the floods, especially if the rains delay the new planting season that begins in October. VOA also reports that Christophe Bring, the head of department for studies and projects at Cameroon’s environment ministry, “said the ongoing floods in northern Cameroon are caused by heavy rainfall resulting from tropical weather disruptions, deforestation and improper agricultural practices. He said thousands of families have gone homeless because they constructed houses and settlements in flood plains."
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a false-color image of severe flooding in northern Cameroon on September 7, 2022. Using the NASA Worldview App, we compare this image with an Aqua MODIS image acquired of the same area on August 6, 2022. To visualize the comparison, simply click on the arrow on the image and move your cursor back and forth. Although rains had already caused flooding in some areas on August 6, the change in widespread inundation only a month later is obvious.
Scientists use this type of false color image, which uses visible light and near infrared light (MODIS bands 7,2,1) to help separate water, which appears deep blue, from vegetation, which looks bright green. Open or sparsely vegetated land looks tan while cloud may look white or tinted with electric blue.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 9/7/2022
Resolutions:
1km (360.1 KB), 500m (969.6 KB), 250m (587.6 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
