When floodwater enters a village, one of the first questions rescuers need answered is surprisingly simple: Where is the water, and who is still there?

From the ground, finding that answer can be difficult. Roads may be submerged, bridges damaged and entire neighbourhoods cut off. A rescue team may know that a village is flooded, but not which roads are still passable, which homes are surrounded by water or where people are stranded.

This is where a small flying machine can offer a very different view.

During the recent floods in Gujarat, Mehsana-based Prime UAV deployed drones in Dholka, Ahmedabad, to support rescue teams. With some areas inaccessible to tractors and boats, the drones provided aerial surveillance, including at night, and helped teams identify areas where people needed assistance.

They were also used to deliver food and water packets in waterproof payload boxes to locations that were difficult to reach by road.

But how does a drone turn a flooded landscape into information that rescuers can actually use?

First, it gives rescuers a view from above

Think of a drone as an extra pair of eyes in the sky.

Instead of sending people into potentially dangerous floodwater to inspect every road and house, a drone can fly over an affected area and capture........

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