Torrential rains cause "horrific" flooding on the Gold Coast
Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features a satellite view of Australia’s Gold Coast after several days of torrential rains have caused major floods in the region.
Flood warnings have been issued for dozens of rivers across the states of Queensland and New South Wales. According to local media, a days-long “rain bomb” dumped a meter of rain in at least 33 places over six days.
In the town of Queensland, thousands of homes and businesses are underwater. At least ten people have lost their lives in the floods, many are missing, and more than 1,000 have been rescued.
“We’ve seen people stranded on roofs for hours, we’ve seen children being rescued, we’re seeing people stranded on bridges,” said New South Wales premier Dominic Perrottet.
On one Gold Coast beach, dead cows are washing up on the shore. In the town of Grafton, buildings were submerged almost up to their roofs and roads were washed away.
“Some of the most severe flooding inundated coastal towns in Queensland and New South Wales,” reports NASA.
“Muddy floodwaters and plumes of suspended sediment at river mouths were visible through scattered cloud cover on March 2, 2022, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image.”
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer
