Flooding in Southern China

Torrential rains caused widespread flooding throughout southern China in May 2010, killing more than 100 people and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate, news sources reported.

This color-coded image shows rainfall amounts in the vicinity of Shanghai, Taiwan, and the East China Sea from May 19 to 25, 2010. The heaviest amounts of precipitation—300 or more millimeters (11.8 or more inches)—appear in dark blue. The lightest amounts of rain—less than 50 millimeters (2 inches)—appear in pale green. The heaviest rainfall is concentrated west-southwest of the city of Hangzhou, but a broad band of precipitation extends from the East China Sea hundreds of kilometers inland.

This image is based on data from the Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis produced at Goddard Space Flight Center, which estimates rainfall by combining measurements from many satellites and calibrating them using rainfall measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.

1. References

2. Associated Press. (2010, May 25). Floods kill 115 in southern China. Accessed May 27, 2010.
3. China.org.cn. (2010, May 24). Warning of floods in Pearl River Delta region. Accessed May 27, 2010.
4. USAToday. (2010, May 25). Floods in southern China drown 115 people and cause US$2.2 billion damage. Accessed May 28, 2010.

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NASA image by Jesse Allen, using near-real-time data provided courtesy of TRMM Science Data and Information System at Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.

Published May 28, 2010
Data acquired May 19 - 25, 2010

Source:

TRMM > MPA