Remote Sensing Techniques for Flood Risk Assessment in Prayagraj Ahead of Mahakumbh 2025

The study focuses on land cover classification using Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite images to analyze the frequently affected areas along the riverbank of the Ganga River near Sangam, Prayagraj. The goal is to provide critical data to the concerned administration for planning and preparation for the Kumbh Mela 2025. The project employs Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) preprocessing on Sentinel-1 images, utilizing au-tomatic thresholding and K-means clustering methods to distin-guish water and land pixels. A binary classification is performed, followed by an XOR operation between images taken with a two-month gap to calculate the net affected area per year. This process is repeated for four consecutive years (2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023). A composite analysis is conducted to determine the extent of the affected areas, ranging from never affected (0) to always affected (4) throughout the study period. Additionally, Sentinel-2 optical imagery is analyzed using Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) thresholding, for comparitive analysis with SAR images. The study provides insights into the temporal variations in riverbank flooding, aiding effective planning and management for future events.