English: Heavy and persistent rainfall brought catastrophic flooding to Queensland in late January and February 2019.

On February 10, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of just one flooded area in North West Queensland. “This is a massive area of flooding, with perhaps 50,000 acres underwater,” explains Robert Lawry, spokesperson from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). The flooding of numerous rivers in this location not only covered a wide area of land, but the runoff created a plume of water which pushed hundreds of kilometers into the Gulf of Carpentaria.

While this single MODIS image clearly shows the vast flooding of rivers pouring into the Gulf of Carpentaria, the rollover comparison view between December 4, 2018 and February 10, 2019 truly illustrates the breath-taking difference between pre-and post-flooding. The comparison view can be found HERE.

Although impressively inundated, this area was not the only area affected—flooding stretched from the eastern coast of Queensland to more than a thousand kilometers (more than 620 miles) inland. A large proportion of northern Queensland experienced 10 consecutive days of heavy rainfall, with event rainfall totals in excess of 2000 mm (78.74 inches/6.56 feet) at some coastal locations and more than 700 mm (27.6 in) at some sites in the northern interior. Townsville, located on the eastern coast of the Coral Sea, east of this image, was especially hard hit.

“The flooding around the Townsville area was triggered by an active and vigorous monsoon trough which remained stationary near Townsville for an extended period, with very heavy rainfall more broadly across the northern part of the state,” reported Lawry. “While the monsoon is not unusual for this time of the year the rainfall intensity and persistence were quite extraordinary.”

According to the BOM, several locations have set new rainfall records:

• Townsville exceeded its average annual rainfall of 1128 mm (44.4 in) in just 10 days.

• Many locations exceeded 1500 mm (59 in) over 10 days.

• Many places recorded rainfall totals in excess of 100 mm (3.9 in) every day for more than a week.

• At its heaviest, the rainfall exceeded 100 mm (3.9in) per hour.

• Some inland areas received 3 years' worth of rainfall in a week.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), thousands of people were evacuated, with their homes inundated by floodwaters; many swift-water rescues were undertaken; and about 20 million hectares (50 million acres) are currently underwater. The toll on livestock and wildlife has also been extensive and tragic. Media reports more than a half a million cattle were killed on inland stations where the cattle, already weakened by drought, drowned or died from exhaustion while fighting floodwaters. Some property owners lost all (100%) of their herds. Reports also include an eyewitness report of a ridge virtually covered in dead kangaroo, the loss of many emu, and concern that living birds seemed to be scarce in some flooded areas.