NASA has released satellite images of the flooded Red River Valley.

Though levels have started to drop, the flooding this spring along many parts of the Red River is the worst since 2009. An extreme spring blizzard, multiple rainstorms, and melting winter ice swelled the Red River and its tributaries, driving them out of their banks and across a broad, flat floodplain. The deluge comes one year after the same region endured extreme drought.

The false-color images were acquired with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. The above image shows the flooded valley as observed by Terra on May 10, 2022; Aqua acquired the below image on May 11, 2020, under more typical spring conditions. The images combine shortwave infrared and visible light (MODIS bands 7-2-1) to better distinguish river water out of its banks.

As of last week, at least 26 municipalities in southern Manitoba remain under a state of local emergency.

Story written with files from Michael Carlowicz, Managing Editor of the NASA Earth Observatory.