Flooding
Posted by: gnoelj
3rd Mar 2022 07:09pm
Do you think recent flooding events in Queensland and Northern New South Wales are the results of climate change?
You must be a member to reply to this chat topic. Click here to sign in.
Help Caféstudy members by responding to their questions, or ask your own in Café Chat, and you will get the chance of earning extra rewards. Caféstudy will match these and donate equally to our two chosen Australian charities.
Australian Marine Conservation Society are an independent charity, staffed by a committed group of scientists, educators and passionate advocates who have defended Australia’s oceans for over 50 years.
ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia. Their trusted self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools save lives by helping young people be well and stay well. The information they offer parents makes it easier for them to help their teenagers, too.
Comments 19
Merddyn
NO, A big NO. The Brisbane Area has suffered floods [over 2.7n] on average once every three years since white settlement. The biggest flood was in around 1795 which Oxley found evidence of with water at least 6m over where Queen and George Street in intersect! .Aboriginals well aware of it and NEVER camped in the CBD area or South Brisbane, but did regularly visit, That flood It was bigger by far than anything recent. Some believe it split Moreton and Stradbroke Islands off from the mainland [1895 flood split Stradbroke and 2022 flood Bribie Island] since Cook in 1770, had it continuous land to Cape Moreton - NO islands. Aboriginal stories tell of the great flood and massive changes to Moreton Bay area, including new islands.
Climate change has NOT effected the number of floods but might have increased rainfall, but even that is doubtful since the Australian record set in 1893 floodS of 907mm [actually much more but gauge overflowed] has never been beaten. THer only flood to come near it was from Debbie when rainfall in Gold Coast Hinterland came the closest to beating the record for 24 hours but was still around 100mm short!
Development iof the flood plain and hinterland is a bigger contributor and stopping the dredging of the river. Prior to the Brisbane bar being dredged and bigger ships coming up the river in the early 1860s, instead of stopping at Dunwich or Fisherman Island [yes that was the first port of Brisbane] the river could be walked across at both the bar and Queens Wharf area at low tide!
Without dredging the river will eventually return to being shallow and increase flood effects., so that what would have been a minor flood becomes a moderate one! If anyone really wants to see what flood heights can be on the Brisbane/Bremer system then go to Colleges Crossing. Unfortunately, the road to Moggil has had the flood markers removed: they were in the 2-30n range in the gullies, while fortunately, the 2nd top flood marker at Mt Crosby is still in place. It reads 56m! The top one used to show 58m. No flood in the last century has come near that along the floodfs have gone over 20m at Colleges Crossing.
The other big myth is that the Brisbane River used to be crystal clear and not the muddy brown it is. The Brisbane River is tidal to Colleges Crossing [Ipswich] and thus will always have mud/silt being stirred up. Upstream from Colleges Crossing it is crystal clear!
I could go on. This is not denying that climate change is occurring: it has for millions of years. All that has changed is the speed of it, thanks to man, and in SEQ's case building on flood plains has increased the speed of run-off.
Cheers
Garry
chickenman
quite possibly from Climate Change , however, that itself is a Natural Event.
PandaKill
the scientific consensus is that the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as the recent flooding in Queensland and Northern New South Wales, are likely to be the result of climate change caused by human activities such as burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. This is because the warming of the earth's atmosphere caused by greenhouse gases is leading to changes in weather patterns and increased precipitation.
Debbie
I do believe that the 'raping' of the land that goes on causes problems with the environment. It has been noted that where trees have been cut down, there is less rain. Alos where ther have been masses of trees planted rain has returned :/
bluemeanie23
NSW government are pathetic in this regard Qld govs response was more thoughtful and quick
Bazz
That depends which side you're on! One thing is for certain. The things that we can do something about are deliberately being ignored. Lismore was the most severely affected, but this wasn't the first time. They've had 91 floods recorded inside 150 years & four of the biggest of those (1954, 1974, 1989 & 2017) cost them north of $10 Billion in recovery funds. Last time, they all got together to form a flood review group & put out a comprehensive report 3 years later. All recommendations were ignored. Just a little bit of money here & there to fund the infrastructure to avoid all of this was knocked back each year. Now this group ran full presentations & distributed reports to over 100 government agencies. The BOM was to blame, NSW SES was completely munted in so many different ways. The local SES were fantastic, but were deliberately limited & under-funded. Most of all, the NSW Government deliberately ignored the 2020 Royal Commission. This included the fact that Lismore has a long-standing water security issue in that it can't guarantee water for its residents beyond 2024! Just spend a tiny $14 Million to build up the old 2005 Levee to the proper height (plus other mitigation measures included in that price) & avoid paying $277 Million + in damages each flood. It's a no-brainer, no? To add insult, the Federal Government paid helicopters from the ADF to standby, but the NSW Government ordered them to nick off! That happened twice!! Then locals had to crowd-fund their own helicopters for rescues! And you want to blame this all on climate change?? This is Criminal Negligence!
Harshanie 30779333
Yes increase flooding caused because of the climate change and human behaviour
Cherri32302237
I do not believe it is climate change. I don't think the work flooding is the right word to use. It is utterly crazy what is happening.
AdelaideM
I absolutely think it's contributing to the floods being more intense and occurring more often.
NSW and Queensland have always had floods, but the rate at which they're occurring and how severe they are is frightening and very new.
It's one of the reasons our government needs to act now to make changes.
People aren't going to be able to afford to live in those areas much longer, if they're getting washed away every year.
Deb61
I feel like climate change is contributing to the recent weather changes and how they are becoming more intense and affecting human populations. Things like greenhouse emissions and population density causing more trees and vegetation being removed to make room for housing and other infrastructure is a contributing factor as well. I also feel that climate change is part of a natural process but human habits and impact on the environment are causing this to happen quicker .
pauldaw
I do not believe it had anything to do with it. It has happened before in our history and it will happen again, so I can not see any argument to say it is because of climate change.
gnoelj
So a one in fifty became a one in eleven in Brisbane. There was discussion linking this back to property prices and densities in that the need to house people had removed bushland that works to absorb water
Dena31948125
Climate change has a very big contribution to the recent flooding happening in Australia. But other factors might be contributing to this as during history flooding like this used to happen as well.
Dena31948125
Climate change has a very big contribution to the recent flooding happening in Australia. But other factors might be contributing to this as during history flooding like this used to happen as well.
ab
Short answer is ‘yes’
Long answer. Yes, it seems to be. At first, I thought well if these events are being described as 1 in 50 yr or 1 in 100 yr events, well, they’ve presumably happened before so how can it be climate change? But what has changed in those 50 yr or 100 yr spans? The world’s population has grown exponentially and medical treatments have meant we’re living longer. That has had a knock-on effect on gases that cause the greenhouse effect, ice caps melting, sea levels rising, storms etc etc. What were 100 yr events are becoming 10 yr events and will quickly become annual events.
Avocado Green
Feels more like the apocalypse! 😂 Floods, bushfires, global pandemic... I wonder what next year will bring...
Anonymous
Yes definitely!
Tamzin32263109
Yes, I think the government needs to start taking this issue seriously and label it as a crisis
jtmorri
Yes I do. I also think that Australia needs a national disaster plan to combat floods, cyclones, storms and bushfires moving forward. Natural disaster is predicted to worsen.