What drought?

[dando]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20101231/D9KESHH00.html


BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Military aircraft dropped supplies to towns cut off by floods in northeastern Australia as the prime minister promised new assistance Friday to the 200,000 people affected by waters covering an area larger than France and Germany combined.


:eek:

Stay safe downunders.

-Kevin

[TrueBrit]

I cannot begin to conceive of just how large an area that is t be completely underwater..simply unreal...

[Insomniac]

Satellite image:

http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/lake-eyre-basin-satellite-image-0884/

[TravelGal]

The affected area is further to the north and east than Lake Eyre. IF memory serves, it flooded last year and made spectacular flowers in places where blooms had not been seen in years.

This is bad because Bundaberg and Rockhampton are major cities for Queensland. The "wet" is expanding and extending. But I'm thinking that the south, as in New South Wales, may still be in drought. Calling OOW!

[emjaya]

This time a year ago we were on water restrictions, dams were at 40 odd percent and dropping, and the guv'ment was spending billions on a desalination plant that never did run properly.

Today it has rained almost constantly for the last two months and the dams are at overflowing and it is not supposed to stop raining until May.
If we get a rain depression or a full cyclone like in 1974, and they are predicting we will, Queensland is going to be a an inland sea.

Northern NSW, Ballina, Lismore, is flooding, but they get the same rain we get up here. The floods out west will slowly work their way down though Western NSW and cause some flooding as they go, but it drys up quickly and doesn't help with the drought.


The flood zone covers an area larger than France and Germany combined and bigger than the state of Texas.

[pedroskova]

Meanwhile, Sydney and Melbourne are scared to death of possible wildfires... be careful where ever you are.

Welcome to the new normal.

[dando]

Crikey! (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343034/Australia-floods-More-200-000-people-affected.html)

:eek:

-Kevin

[Methanolandbrats]

One of the strongest LaNina episodes in 50 years. Changes rainfall patterns. Will persist into southern hemisphere fall. Two impacts are wet northwestern USA, cold and dry central USA and another one is rainfall in NE Australia.

[Cam]

What a difference a continental divide can make.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/hs047.snc6/167708_10150361830790206_849195205_16471336_81683_ n.jpg

[emjaya]

Crikey! (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1343034/Australia-floods-More-200-000-people-affected.html)

:eek:

-Kevin

WTF. I know I don't keep up with things as much as I should, but I'm sure the top half of QLD is not a separate state called Capricornia.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/12/30/article-0-0C9A810A000005DC-731_634x574.jpg

[cameraman]

It is that darn English school system, those Brits are just no good at maps.
:rofl:

[opinionated ow]

I'm in South Australia these days; we've had more rain than we know what to do with. The Murray-Darling River system which is the largest in Australia at over 2000km long, is still in flood down here-remnants of the flooding we had in New South Wales and Victoria during October/November. The lower lakes however are full at the moment which is proving to be a boon for tourism in the Coorong-Lake Alexandrina has the most water it has had for about 20 years.

A quick lesson in Geography for you all-west of the Great Diving Range which runs not very far inland down the East Coast-the country is pretty much dead flat. When it rains, the rivers flood. These current floods however are the largest for some time, as somebody else pointed out this a particularly vicious La Nina system and that causes it.

Dorothe McKellar summed it up in 1904:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror –
The wide brown land for me!

[EDwardo]

WTF. I know I don't keep up with things as much as I should, but I'm sure the top half of QLD is not a separate state called Capricornia.


Capricornia is a term sometimes used for northern Australia, derived from the Tropic of Capricorn. It can apply to any of the items below:
* Areas associated with Queensland:
o Capricornia, Queensland, a region of the coast located around Rockhampton, Queensland.
o Division of Capricornia, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives based around the region
o A proposed new Australian State based in northern Queensland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricornia

[SteveH]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20101230/capt.84010ed0bae842409fc584a853ad0fff-84010ed0bae842409fc584a853ad0fff-0.jpg?x=400&y=266&q=85&sig=Wq5kjKsSFVNjoHS9bskrOQ--

[opinionated ow]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricornia

The proposed new state is a crock of bs...just like "New England." Just a couple of fringe loonies looking to make a name for themselves!

[Cam]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20101230/capt.84010ed0bae842409fc584a853ad0fff-84010ed0bae842409fc584a853ad0fff-0.jpg?x=400&y=266&q=85&sig=Wq5kjKsSFVNjoHS9bskrOQ--

OOPs. Skippy looks to be in a little bit of trouble. :eek:

[Ankf00]

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20101230/capt.84010ed0bae842409fc584a853ad0fff-84010ed0bae842409fc584a853ad0fff-0.jpg?x=400&y=266&q=85&sig=Wq5kjKsSFVNjoHS9bskrOQ--

ruh roh

[Don Quixote]

Can roos swim?

[emjaya]

Yes, they are very good swimmers, but I don't there was anywhere for that one to swim to.

[opinionated ow]

Scary, scary stuff in Toowoomba today.

AEBIZ2KLsPA

What's more, the Dam that was built to protect Brisbane is over capacity and they're having to release water but even doing that they may not be able to avoid flash floods!

Current map. The flooded area is bigger than my home state of New South Wales!
http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65121.gif

[TravelGal]

Oh dear. Oh MY! I know there is worry here about what happens to our old, underused dams if we should get torrential rains.

What's up with the dude in the blue shirt? He must have cement shoes.

Notice all the blue triangles on the map further north. We are getting desperate emails from the tourism officials in Port Douglas, etc., showing sunny skies and people on the beaches. People are staying away from anything labelled QLD. It's also a tourism nightmare, which will hinder recovery for the whole state. :(

[dando]

Oh dear. Oh MY! I know there is worry here about what happens to our old, underused dams if we should get torrential rains.

What do you mean if...didn't y'all just get hammered by a bunch of rain?

-Kevin

[Methanolandbrats]

This is a great site and has some flood photos
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

Flood is in images of the day
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/

Click on articles for lots of Earth Science stuff. You can subscribe to daily feeds too.

[TravelGal]

What do you mean if...didn't y'all just get hammered by a bunch of rain?

-Kevin

Yes, but it was not all THAT bad. Not like in Oz. And the hardest rain was not in the same area as the dams are. Meaning, of course, that the levels did not rise as much as we would have liked but it was better than the alternative.

[Kiwifan]

Thinking of you at this time Aussies. Will donate once the Red Cross or similar set up a relief fund for you in QLD.

Our thoughts are with you, take care mates....

Rusty.

[SurfaceUnits]

XLBjZUQ1Xy0

[emjaya]

roh oh. Not again. :(

http://www.bom.gov.au/fwo/IDQ65121.gif

[TravelGal]

Dang, and here I thought I was supposed to be worried about the fires. Oh wait, that was two weeks ago. :rolleyes:

[opinionated ow]

Just can't bloody win at the moment! Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria & Western Australia with major fires (the latter two states are still burning). Significant flooding in Queensland moving south in New South Wales too.

[dando]

Flipping ozzies.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/01/car-emerges-from-sea-foam-blanketing-australias-coast/

:gomer:

Take care, mates.

-Kevin

[emjaya]

Well, for a former Category 1 Cyclone, Oswald brought a lot of pain. All the way down the coast towns were flooded, some for the third time in four years, with record flood levels for some places. Lots of damage, but the death toll is not high, thankfully.

Now the clean up begins, again.

http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2013/02/01/3997900/art-708640326-420x0.jpg

However. (http://images.brisbanetimes.com.au/2013/02/01/3997899/art-708526942-420x0.jpg)