Ad-hoc flights to map flooded areas in Ahr valley

The heavy and persistent rainfall in the recent days and weeks has led to severe flooding in western Germany. Lives were lost, numerous buildings and much infrastructure were destroyed. Parts of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate were particularly affected.

In order to support the German Aerospace Center (DLR) with aerial images, BSF Swissphoto performed an ad-hoc aerial image acquisition employing a camera from the Institute of Optical Sensor Systems. The flight took place on Tuesday, July 20^th, 2021. The heavily affected Ahr valley was surveyed in order to map the dramatic damages resulting from the storm that took place on the 14^th and 15^th of July.2021. The images are needed for situational coordination and were requested by the crisis team of the Supervisory and Service Directorate of Rheinland-Pfalz and other organisations.

Image source: https://www.dlr.de/content/de/artikel/news/2021/03...