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April 5, 2025 - Floodwaters Surge Through the Australian Outback
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Heavy rainfall in Queensland in March 2025 sent floodwaters sweeping across vast stretches of the Australian outback. More than a year’s worth of rain fell in one week in some places. The deluge caused major flooding along multiple rivers in Channel Country, submerging small towns and grazing lands in southwestern Queensland.
On April 4, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this false-color image of extreme flooding in southwestern Queensland. In this type of image, open land is tan, vegetation looks green, and water looks blue, with deeper water tinted deeper blue. The flooded channels include Cooper’s Creek (southeast), the Diamantina River (center), and Eyre Creek (northwest).
Two hard-hit locations were Windorah, on Cooper’s Creek, and Jundah, a town about 75 kilometers (47 miles) upriver. As waters rose, helicopter evacuations were organized for residents of both Windorah and Jundah, according to news reports. Aerial photos showed settlements and pasturelands submerged, and government officials estimated that more than 100,000 livestock across Queensland may be missing or deceased.
In the week ending on March 29, parts of the state received more than 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain. Floodwaters near Windorah, Jundah, and other towns rose to higher levels than those seen in 1974, a historic year for outback flooding and the wettest year on record in Australia. By late March and into April, flooding was widespread across western Queensland, with waters submerging thousands of kilometers of road, the AFP reported. Inundated roadways may leave towns isolated for weeks, according to news reports.
It is typical for the Channel Country to undergo cycles of drought and flood, and wet periods can prompt growth in pasturelands, supply water to wetlands, and support endemic species. Experts have remarked, however, that the rain and floods in March 2025 have been extreme. They cite several factors for the rain, including streams of humid air from the north and east that converged over interior Queensland. A low-pressure trough drove the moisture-laden air to higher and cooler levels of the atmosphere to trigger the heavy rain.
Over the coming weeks and months, the water will drain toward Lake Eyre (also called Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre), about 600 kilometers southwest of Windorah. The lake sits at the lowest natural point in Australia and is dry most of the year. Every few years, some water flows all the way to the lake, but it is rare for it to fill completely. Following unusually abundant rain in 2019, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology estimated that 80 percent of the lake’s area ultimately became covered by water.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 4/4/2025
Resolutions:
1km (131.9 KB), 500m (348.9 KB), 250m (573.8 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Heavy rainfall in Queensland in March 2025 sent floodwaters sweeping across vast stretches of the Australian outback. More than a year’s worth of rain fell in one week in some places. The deluge caused major flooding along multiple rivers in Channel Country, submerging small towns and grazing lands in southwestern Queensland.
On April 4, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this false-color image of extreme flooding in southwestern Queensland. In this type of image, open land is tan, vegetation looks green, and water looks blue, with deeper water tinted deeper blue. The flooded channels include Cooper’s Creek (southeast), the Diamantina River (center), and Eyre Creek (northwest).
Two hard-hit locations were Windorah, on Cooper’s Creek, and Jundah, a town about 75 kilometers (47 miles) upriver. As waters rose, helicopter evacuations were organized for residents of both Windorah and Jundah, according to news reports. Aerial photos showed settlements and pasturelands submerged, and government officials estimated that more than 100,000 livestock across Queensland may be missing or deceased.
In the week ending on March 29, parts of the state received more than 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain. Floodwaters near Windorah, Jundah, and other towns rose to higher levels than those seen in 1974, a historic year for outback flooding and the wettest year on record in Australia. By late March and into April, flooding was widespread across western Queensland, with waters submerging thousands of kilometers of road, the AFP reported. Inundated roadways may leave towns isolated for weeks, according to news reports.
It is typical for the Channel Country to undergo cycles of drought and flood, and wet periods can prompt growth in pasturelands, supply water to wetlands, and support endemic species. Experts have remarked, however, that the rain and floods in March 2025 have been extreme. They cite several factors for the rain, including streams of humid air from the north and east that converged over interior Queensland. A low-pressure trough drove the moisture-laden air to higher and cooler levels of the atmosphere to trigger the heavy rain.
Over the coming weeks and months, the water will drain toward Lake Eyre (also called Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre), about 600 kilometers southwest of Windorah. The lake sits at the lowest natural point in Australia and is dry most of the year. Every few years, some water flows all the way to the lake, but it is rare for it to fill completely. Following unusually abundant rain in 2019, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology estimated that 80 percent of the lake’s area ultimately became covered by water.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 4/4/2025
Resolutions:
1km (131.9 KB), 500m (348.9 KB), 250m (573.8 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
