Queensland Flooding hits New South Wales
As flood waters moved south from Queensland in early January 2011, one of the first communities to be affected in neighboring New South Wales was Goodooga. Already remote, Goodooga was expected to be isolated from the outside world for up to six weeks, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured these false-color images before and after the flood waters moved south from Queensland, according to a NASA statement.
The top image is from January 6, 2011. For comparison, the bottom image shows the same area on December 12, 2010.
Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. Water ranges in color from light blue to navy. Clouds appear light blue-green and cast dark shadows onto the land surface below. Vegetation is bright green. Bare ground appears in shades of pink-brown. The rectangular areas of fluorescent green and light blue south of the river belong to an irrigation station.
Just south of the Barlonne River and the New South Wales-Queensland border, Goodooga was one of at least a few communities expected to be isolated by rising waters.
Authorities warned that, although it was the first New South Wales community affected by the flooding, it would not be the last.
