NASA satellite imagery from Feb. 18 shows flooding on flood plains in eastern Australia. The flow of rivers is mostly from east to west (right to left), with streams converging east of Bourke, on the Darling River. The New South Wales-Queenland border cuts across the image. (NASA/Earth Observatory)
A slow-moving tide weeks in the making is still isolating people and forcing evacuations in the interior east of Australia.
Thursday, evacuation warnings were given to people living in Bourke and Brewarrina, New South Wales, the Australian ABC news website said on Friday. Brewarrina was likely to become isolated, ABC added.
Upstream, the formerly isolated towns of Walgett and Collarenebri become accessible as flood waters began to recede. Partial assess was restored at Lightning Ridge.
The flood crest is not forecast to reach Bourke until late next week, when major flooding is expected on the Darling River.
Authorities have closed the swollen Darling River to motorized boating, be it recreational or commercial, ABC said.
Not all flooding impact has been negative, however. Some graziers, quoted on ABC's website, have said that the flooding, by restoring ground water on the flood plains, will boost their production going forward.
Flooding of the Darling River and its major tributaries was sparked by abnormally heavy rain that fell between mid-January and early February. At the time, flash flooding and flooding of smaller rivers caused substantial loss of property for homes and farms in northwest New South Wales and southern Queensland.
Flooding of the Darling is not going to end any time, so, rather, it will keep rolling slowly, inexorably downstream. Take Menindee, where a major flood crest is forecast for mid-April, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) website said.
At Burtundy, above where the Darling meets the Murray River, flooding is not expected to peak until early to mid-May, according to the BoM.
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