10 Day Rain Bomb Continues Prolonged Australian Floods
Following record September floods in New South Wales and greater Sydney, large sections of Australia are looking at an extended onslaught of more extreme storms and flooding. The latest over the top natural disaster is driven by a so-called triple Nina event combined with other unusual weather patterns.
The new rains will hit virtually every state in a nation that has not recovered from mid-September events on the Macquarie, Namoi, Bogan and Lachlan rivers. Earlier in the year historic floods forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands on the east coast of South-East Queensland and northern New South Wales, with damage estimates exceeding $5.28 billion.
Severe flooding impacted these states six months ago; induced by an extended period of heavy rainfall in February and March. Then, in July, 50,000 people were evacuated from Sydney for the third time this year.
Long-term flooding continues in the key Murray River Basin.
As the planet’s second largest exporter of coal, Australia has earned dubious honors as the global warming canary in the coal mine. Historically semi-arid, the past decade has seen the nation whiplashed between drought and flood.
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