Earth from Space: Flooding in Sri Lanka

Puttalam district in North Western Sri Lanka is currently facing severe flooding, landslides and rockfalls, caused by heavy monsoon rains across the region. 

Copernicus Sentinel-2 captured an image over the region on 30 November 2025, as well as an image one month previously, showing the extent of flooding. 

Click on the slide below to see the next image:

Puttalam district, North-Western Sri Lanka. 31st October 2025

The same region captured on 30th November 2025

The images are taken using false-colour in the near-infrared channel. Sediment appears green/brown, cleaner water appears dark blue/black, and vegetation appears red.

During the same period, Sentinel-2 also acquired another image over the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites in the same orbit but on opposite sides of the globe. Each satellite carries an innovative wide swath high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands.

Orbiting at an altitude of 786 km, the mission passes over the same location on Earth every five days and is often called upon to provide data to support emergency response efforts.

The Disasters Charter, which turns 25 this year, has been activated to provide satellite data over Sri Lanka.