NASA Imagery Of Typhoon Track In Burma - AFP

Before:



After:



The first cyclone of the 2008 season in the northern Indian Ocean was a devastating one for Myanmar (Burma). According to reports, 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 over 100,000 people may have been killed, with tens of thousands more missing as of May 7.

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, Yangon (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.

EDIT

http://www.spacemart.com/reports/NASA_Nasa_Satellite_Captures_Image_Of_Cyclone_Nargis_Flooding_In_Myanmar_999.html

They've been destroyed.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20080508-135368/5000-sq-km-of-Myanmar-still-underwater--UN

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 14:08:00 05/08/2008

BANGKOK -- About 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 square miles) of Myanmar's cyclone-hit regions remain underwater, with more than a million people in need of emergency relief, a UN spokesman said Thursday.

"We're talking about 5,000 square kilometers under water," said Richard Horsey, a Bangkok-based spokesman with the United Nation's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The bottle neck is getting it out in the delta. That needs boats, helicopters, trucks .... there are upward of one million people in need of help," he added.
Signature lines are currently turned off due to high traffic.

Poor bastards.

How much of Rangoon is still standing?

:wow:

Relief workers are having a hard time reaching the worst areas. Many dead bodies floating around.

:(

they were set to export 4000 tons of rice before the cyclone hit. Bangladesh lost their crop with Cyclone Sidr, now this. These people are going to need long term help from other countries but tell that to their govt.