Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service Monitors Major Tropical Cyclone in Mozambique

Satellites from the space are important tools to monitor cyclones. During the night of 14 March, Tropical Cyclone IDAI made landfall in the district of Dondo, within the Sofala province of Mozambique. By 00:00 UTC 15 March, the centre of the storm was within 25km of the port city Beira.

The Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service (EMS) Rapid Mapping module was activated on 15 March to produce delineation and delineation monitoring maps over ten Areas of Interest (AoI). The first set of maps produced from imagery acquired between 16 and 19 March show a total flooded area of approximately 52,000 ha (518 km2) and that over 24,290 inhabitants are affected by the floods within the identified ten areas. The maps and vector data are available for viewing and download on the EMS website. 

The delineation monitoring map of Beira showing 7,254 ha (72.5 km2) of the flooded area at the time of satellite imagery acquisition (Copernicus EMS © 2019 EU, [EMSR348] Beira: Delineation Map, Monitoring 1)

The storm surges and 167 km/h winds caused loss of life and injuries, Mozambique. It also damaged  infrastructures including electric power, communications, roads and bridges. International are  supporting disaster relief efforts. Fore example, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)  has provided approximately 300,000 EUR for the initial response.

GMES and Africa is a joint programme of the African Union Commission and the European Commission. GMES and Africa is supported by the European Union through its Pan-African Programme. It is also supported by the European Commission (EC) COPERNICUS Programme, which provides satellite data and products from the services. Today, more than 300 users in Africa can directly receive Sentinel data and Global Land and marine products.


More information and source:  

• Copernicus website
• The Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service (EMS)