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Floods in Australia and climate change

Floods in Australia and climate change

Australian floods and climate change

The magnitude of the floods that decimated Queensland’s east coast and New South Wales’ east coast in February and March were unprecedented. The sheer amount of rainfall that has fallen in such a short time is amazing. It caused flooding and death to whole communities. The estimated repair cost of roads and bridges alone will exceed $1 billion, not to mention homes, public facilities, farms and other infrastructure.

Rescue of families in Maryborough, Queensland February 2022 [Source: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services]

According to the Climate Council’s estimates, this flooding event will be one of the worst ever recorded. It concluded that weather patterns once thought to be extreme only occur once in a century are now more common.

Climate Council scientist Professor Will Steffan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC): “The point is we’re having extreme events more often. ‘Ordinary’ extreme events are occurring now in rapid succession.”

The colossal rainfall totals at three weather stations ranged from 9 a.m., on February 24, to 9:59 a.m., on February 28. Mt. Glorious, an area in the rainforest located 84 km northwest of Brisbane, Queensland’s state capital, saw the greatest amount of 1,637mm. Pomona 135 km north of Brisbane had 1,180mm, and Bracken Ridge, an outer suburb of Brisbane, saw 1,094mm.

Brisbane recorded 677mm over three days—a three-day record. Northern New South Wales (NSW), has also experienced torrential rainfalls and flooding. The State Emergency Service in Lismore, a northern NSW city, was overwhelmed in minutes. It was unable and unwilling to respond to calls quickly, due to a shortage of personnel and only two boats to cover the city of 44,000. Over 14,000 houses were damaged.

In Sydney, the NSW state capital and Australia’s largest city, the worst affected areas were working-class suburbs in the city’s southwest, impacting more than 60,000 people.

The extreme weather event is a result of a number of climate phenomena. The immediate cause for the rainfall is a very slow-moving, low-pressure system. It dragged moist air out of the Coral Sea onto the Australian east coastline. This allowed it to evaporate its large water content within a narrow geographic area. The media has dubbed the phenomenon a “rain bomb.”

Nina Ridder is a research associate at Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. New Scientist that “because it’s so slow-moving (weather system)—it’s basically stationary—it’s dumping all the water that it has on the same area.”

Although it is difficult to determine the exact impact of climate change on specific extreme weather events, scientists are drawing some general conclusions.

According to the vice-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions Mark Howden, the climate crisis was “embedded in this event.”

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