The conventional means to record hydrological parameters of a flood often fail to record an extreme event. Remote sensing technology along with Geographic Information System (GIS) has become the key tool for flood monitoring in recent years. Development in this field has evolved from optical to microwave remote sensing, which has provided all weather capability compared to the optical sensors for the purpose of flood mapping. The central focus in this field revolves around delineation of flood zones and preparation of flood hazard maps for the vulnerable areas. In this exercise flood depth is considered crucial for flood hazard mapping and a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is considered to be the most effective means to estimate flood depth from remotely sensed or hydrological data. The aim of this review is to synthesize the state of art literature in the application of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) techniques in all the flood management stages (pre-flood, during flood and post-flood stages. This paper presents a review of application of remote sensing and GIS in flood management with particular focus on the developing county like India.
