A Comprehensive Overview on UAV-Based Applications for Flood Management

Over the past several years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones have been utilized in a variety of fields and are becoming increasingly applied in flood management from the pre-flood to the post-flood phase. To gain deeper insights into the scope and emerging trends in the use of UAVs for flood management, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the usage of UAVs in flood management applications. This research summarized the results of 69 academic publications over the past fourteen years from 2010 to the end of 2024, and described the current scientific trend of using UAVs to study flood hazards. Based on the publications found, UAV applications in flood management are classified into three phases: before the flood, during the flood, and after the flood. The study indicated that UAVs are used for providing the required information on flood-prone areas, monitoring the condition of the dam, assessing of flood hazards, re-mapping the flood-influenced regions, determining the flood damage, and carrying out the activities for search and rescue. The study results show the most popular applications during the flood management process, the types of UAVs exploited, the data acquisition methods, image processing technologies, and styles of flying control. In addition, the study indicated the key challenges and actionable future research directions of the use of UAVs in flood management. These obtained results broaden knowledge and provide technical reference materials for technicians, engineers, and research experts on flood management and prevention