Hurricane Andrew was a small but powerful storm that caused massive destruction along a path through southern Florida and south-central Louisiana in late August 1992. Rainfall associated with Andrew was light for a hurricane because of the small size and rapid forward movement of the storm. However, rainfall totals of more than 7 inches were recorded for the storm period in southeastern Florida and Louisiana; a high of 11.9 inches was recorded in Hammond, La. (Rappaport, 1992). Maximum sustained windspeeds of 141 mph (miles per hour), with gusts of 169 mph, were recorded on August 24, just before landfall in Florida (Rappaport, 1992). A storm surge of about 17 feet above sea level was recorded at Biscayne Bay, Fla.and about 9 feet near Terrebonne Bay in south-central Louisiana.

Hurricane Andrew originated in the North Atlantic Ocean,moved westward over the Bahamas, and made landfall near the southern tip of Florida on the morning of August 24. After passing over the Florida Everglades, the storm proceeded in a northwesterly direction across the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in south-central Louisiana at Point Chevreuil on the morning of August 26. Andrew deteriorated rapidly after landfall in Louisiana and was downgraded to a tropical depression on August 27. The remnants of Andrew proceeded on a northeasterly path, producing severe weather throughout the Southeastern States (Rappaport, 1992).

Hurricane Andrew moved across southern Florida at an average forward speed of 18 mph (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1992). As it crossed southern Florida, Andrew left a path of destruction 25 miles wide and 60 miles long (Gore, 1993).For detailed information: water.usgs.gov/nwsum/WSP2425/andrew.html

The first cyclone of the 2008 season in the northern Indian Ocean was a devastating one for Burma. According to reports from Accuweather.com, Cyclone Nargis made landfall with sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts of 150-160 mph, which is the equivalent of a strong Category 3 or minimal Category 4 hurricane. News reports stated that several thousand people have been killed, and thousands more were missing as of May 5.

Flood water can be difficult to see in photo-like satellite images, particularly when the water is muddy. This pair of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite use a combination of visible and infrared light to make floodwaters obvious. Water is blue or nearly black, vegetation is bright green, bare ground is tan, and clouds are white or light blue.

On April 15, rivers and lakes are sharply defined against a backdrop of vegetation and fallow agricultural land. The Irrawaddy River flows south through the left-hand side of the image, splitting into numerous distributaries known as the Mouths of the Irrawaddy. The wetlands near the shore are a deep blue green. Cyclone Nargis came ashore across the Mouths of the Irrawaddy and followed the coastline northeast.

The entire coastal plain is flooded in the May 5 image. The fallow agricultural areas appear to have been especially hard hit. For example, Yangôn (population over 4 million) is almost completely surrounded by floods. Several large cities (population 100,000–500,000) are in the affected area. Muddy runoff colors the Gulf of Martaban turquoise.

The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of the region in additional resolutions and formats, including photo-like natural color.

For more information: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/nargis_floods.html