As cyclones go, Cyclone Emma was weak, forming just before coming ashore with winds gusting to less than 90 kilometers per hour (56 miles per hour). The storm did, however, drape itself over the whole of Western Australia on March 1, 2006, bringing a deluge of rain. In the midst of its wet season, the region was already soggy when Emma came ashore, and the storm’s heavy rains triggered widespread flooding. Water spilled out of river basins and filled seasonal lakes across the state on March 2, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this false-color image.
Published Mar 3, 2006
