Flooding in Australia

Thank you. Sometimes we need to remember that there is an entire Rest Of The World that experiences climate issues and local weather disruptions.

 

A point was made on the local news about the floods that may give you all some idea of the impact on Australia.

Approximately 75% of Queensland is currently deemed to be flood affected (there is still a lot of places on higher ground, but acces to them is restricted by the floods). This is the equivalent land area of France and Germany combined. This does not include the nothern part of New South Wales which is also flooding. The floods started back in December, and the wall of water seen in Hyo's film clip is a result of the fact that there has been so much rain over the last month, the ground is fully saturated, so the latest rains (approximately a foot of rain in an hour) are just running off the hills and mountains. Normally, the gound will absorb some of this rain.

There were also comments that the damage over the whole area is more than New Orleans suffered a few years ago.

On the other side of the continent, Western Australia is suffering bushfires south of Perth, the capital, and cleaning up from their floods to the north of Perth. The rest of Australia is, at present, OK.

 

The return of La Niña conditions.

 

Its really a sad thing guys. Watching the news, I felt sad for all the people who have been facing the brunt of nature because of all the man made reasons. Global warming is warning us every year and more such floods could happen anytime. We have to save our Earth at any cost.

 

wow, that is horrible! worse than katrina? how sad, i have seen very little coverage here. a spot on the nightly news now and then. are they getting international help? another reason to get off fossil fuels.

 

I'm careful not to list global warming, especially due to anthropogenic causes just yet. There have been large scale weather events like this throughout history. The archeological record shows evidence of mega-Niño events in Mexico, northern South America and Brazil 700-1500yrs ago. We know these events come and go. I'm not saying that this is definitely not evidence of global warming. Only the we have to be careful what we attribute to man-made disturbances. I agree we have to save parts o the Earth. I do this every day for an occupation.

 

Weren't they suffering from severe drought just 6 months ago?

 

That is what happens during El Niño cycles. Warm ocean currents shift to the Eastern Pacifc and bring wet weather to the west coast of South and North America while drying out Australia. When the El Niño event subsides and returns to La Niña conditions, the warm ocean currents push back to the east coast fo Australia and bring wet weather with it while drying out the west coast of South America. This event also has a great effect on fisheries located on the west coast of South America due to warm nutrient deficient water displacing cold nutrient rich water that is normally there due to upwelling.

 

This was quite a big story on the news pretty much every night over here. Got friends in Brisbane and they said they've had about 8 years of drought before the rainy weather for their summer (our winter).

I think one of the other members advised that the area flooded and under water is larger than France and Germany put together. Not sure which US States this would cover, but it's a lot of land.

 

Blimey. They can't get a break down there. How's pat getting on? I hope he's alright. Had no idea. But then, I don't really watch much telly.

 

They are now cleaning up in Queensland - in Brisbane this weekend, they had thousands of volunteers who joined those who were affected by the floods to help clean up. The biggest impact are those outside Brisbane - a couple of towns have almost ceased to exist and residents are only just being allowed back in to see if anything is left of their homes or possessions. The defence force are being moved in to help with all the clean up in these areas, and to help get the infrastructure back up and running. However, they are saying that it will be months before some of rail lines and roads will be available.

But no sooner has the flood crisis dropped in Queensland when we hear of floods in Western Victoria. Mainly country towns affected, and in Victoria, they have had more notice of the flooding, so have been able to better prepare themselves for it, so the impact will be reduced.

As a couple of lines out of a poem (My Country by Dorothea Mackellar) that every Aussie kid learns state "A land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains" really does describe Australia. The poem was first published in 1908, and the description of Australia has not really changed.

So far, Queensland has had a little luck, they have not been hit by any cyclones this year.

 

I think this shows the size of the Australia and the floods quite dramatically - the area of land covered was equal to France & Germany put together.



Granted, a lot of central Australia is desert but it is still a massive country.