After an extremely wet October, southeast Australia continued to see heavy rainfall in November 2022. With soils already saturated and dams full, the latest storms have added to ongoing flooding across New South Wales and Victoria.
Widespread flooding is visible in this false-color image (right) acquired on November 18, 2022, with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. Water appears light to dark blue. Vegetation is green and bare land is brown. For comparison, the MODIS image from the Aqua satellite (left) shows the same area on June 28, 2022, prior to the excessive rainfall.
In the week leading up to November 14, large parts of New South Wales and Victoria saw more than 50 millimeters of rain (2 inches). The town of Forbes, New South Wales, had the highest daily total for the week. It saw 118 millimeters (4.6 inches) fall in a 24-hour period spanning November 13–14. The abundant rain across the region caused rivers to rise and flood nearby towns. Forbes saw its third major flood event in just four weeks as waters on the Lachlan River rose faster than expected.
Read More: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: NASA Earth Observatory