Satellite before and after

Cyclone Idai 2019: flooding inland from Beira, Mozambique

Tropical Cyclone Idai came ashore near Beira in mid-March 2019 and caused catastrophic flooding across Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, one of the deadliest storms recorded in the Southern Hemisphere.

Beira and the lower Buzi and Pungwe rivers, Sofala province, Mozambique · Landfall 14 to 15 March 2019 · Hurricane / Cyclone / Typhoon · Mozambique

Compare the imagery

Drag the divider, or focus it and use the arrow keys. Left of the divider is 27 Feb 2019, right is 26 Mar 2019, 27 days apart.

The interactive comparison needs JavaScript. Both images are shown below.

In this false-colour view water is dark blue to black, vegetation is bright green, bare ground is tan, freshly burned land is red-brown and cloud is cyan.

The two images

Satellite image of Beira and the lower Buzi and Pungwe rivers, Sofala province, Mozambique on 27 Feb 2019, before the event, in false colour (MODIS bands 7-2-1).
Before: Terra, 27 Feb 2019 · Open in NASA Worldview · original from GIBS
Satellite image of Beira and the lower Buzi and Pungwe rivers, Sofala province, Mozambique on 26 Mar 2019, after the event, in false colour (MODIS bands 7-2-1).
After: Terra, 26 Mar 2019 · Open in NASA Worldview · original from GIBS

What the images show

On 27 February the coastal plain inland from Beira is green, with the rivers as thin dark lines. On 26 March a wide area of floodwater and water-logged ground lies inland from the coast, west of the city.

About the event

  • NASA Earth Observatory reported winds of 175 km/h at landfall and a storm surge of up to 6 metres in some areas.
  • An initial International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies assessment, cited by NASA, said the storm destroyed 90 percent of Beira.

Limits of this comparison

Clear images of this area were rare: the passes checked in the week after landfall were largely cloud, so the after-image is 11 days after the storm, when some water had already drained. Scattered small cloud remains.

Each image is one satellite pass at about 250 metres a pixel. It shows where water or burned land is visible from space on that day; it does not measure damage, and cloud or haze can hide what is underneath.

Dates were chosen by checking the imagery on both satellites for several days either side and keeping the clearest pass. Both use the same layer, MODIS Corrected Reflectance, bands 7-2-1.

Sources

We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Comparison slider: leaflet-side-by-side (MIT licence). Case last updated 12 Sep 2026.

Questions

What does the satellite image of Beira and the lower Buzi and Pungwe rivers, Sofala province, Mozambique show?

On 27 February the coastal plain inland from Beira is green, with the rivers as thin dark lines. On 26 March a wide area of floodwater and water-logged ground lies inland from the coast, west of the city.

When were the two satellite images taken?

The before-image was taken by Terra, 27 Feb 2019 and the after-image by Terra, 26 Mar 2019, 27 days apart.

What can this before-and-after comparison not show?

Clear images of this area were rare: the passes checked in the week after landfall were largely cloud, so the after-image is 11 days after the storm, when some water had already drained. Scattered small cloud remains. Each image is one satellite pass at about 250 metres a pixel. It shows where water or burned land is visible from space on that day; it does not measure damage, and cloud or haze can hide what is underneath.

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