Extreme flash flooding in Australia

[trev]

8 people are confirmed dead and possibly up to 50 mising after cities and rivers flooded without warning. Persistent heavy rain over the past weeks suddenly intensified in Toowoomba and nearby towns. Walls of water 2 metres deep crashed through downtown Toowoomba and river levels rose 10m in 10 minutes (30 feet) and 19metres in an hour. Resue helicopters had to be grounded due to extreme weather and darkness leaving people to survive on their own.
Daylight now appearing and major searches are beginning. More information to come.

[Berzerker]

is this in the north?

[Arrian]

I heard about crazy flooding down in Oz. Tons of rain after a long drought?

-Arrian

[BlackCat]

Yup, Queensland. They actually has a really "wet" history - wonder why they won't learn :

http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/qld/fld_history/index.shtml

[Qilue]

Yup, Queensland. They actually has a really "wet" history - wonder why they won't learn :

http://www.bom.gov.au/hydro/flood/ql...ry/index.shtml

The floods over the last few weeks have been the result of once in a millennium rainfall events.

The areas that normally get a lot of rain (north along the coast from Mackay) and also receiving record rain levels, did not experience the kind of flooding seen in inland areas.

[trev]

Persistent torrential rain has continued all day and may continue for another 12 - 24 hours. The death toll from last night's extreme flash flood is now 9 officially with 66 people unaccounted for. Due to the circumstances, many of those 66 are probably dead with bodies unlikely to be found for a lot of them.
Brisbane, the capital of Queensland with 2 million people is now facing its worst flooding in history. Much of the cities roads will close within the next 24 hours, making much of the city includign the downtown area impassable. Business in much of the city is closing down, some suburbs will be almost entirely evacuated. As the rain in the catchment region is continuing at fall rate of around 2 inches per hour, the situation could and probably will worsen dramatically.

[MOBIUS]

Climate Change: You reap what you sow.

Given the nation's stance on climate change and that the majority of the people in the state of Queensland are most likely climate change deniers, they shouldn't really have any complaints when the effects come knocking on the door...

[Lorizael]

I am a human being and it is bad when other human beings die.

Fixed that for you.

[dannubis]

Fixed that for you.

With or without guns ?

[MOBIUS]

Fixed that for you.

They are clearly all evil, otherwise God would have told them to build a boat.

[SlowwHand]

Sure is bad.

26-Foot Wall of Water Slams Australia Town

Ten are killed as 'instant tsunami' sweeps away pedestrians & cars. Authorities worry about the 78 people who are still missing.

[BlackCat]

The floods over the last few weeks have been the result of once in a millennium rainfall events.

The areas that normally get a lot of rain (north along the coast from Mackay) and also receiving record rain levels, did not experience the kind of flooding seen in inland areas.

Have you more precise info/link ? All I can find is that it's comparable to 1893 and 1974 incidents.

[Berzerker]

just saw video, wow. Cars were carried by rivers as if they were weightless

[trev]

Climate Change: You reap what you sow.

Given the nation's stance on climate change and that the majority of the people in the state of Queensland are most likely climate change deniers, they shouldn't really have any complaints when the effects come knocking on the door...

Queensland often has catastrophic floods associated with strong La Nina events, the previous instance being 1974 where floods swept into Brisbane causing billions in damage. La Nina events have always happened and some are strong events. To say that this is the result of global warming is rediculous. Back in the 1890's reports of the time suggest flooding as bad or worse than on this occasion, waas that also the result of greenhouse gases and climate change?

Have you more precise info/link ? All I can find is that it's comparable to 1893 and 1974 incidents.

It is being compared to 1974 and generally considered worse than that year. However it is suggested that 1893 was worse. The effects of the flood on Brisbane is extreme with the CBD totally shut down and generally flooded, and 40 000 residences expected to have water above floorboard height. But after 1974 several dams were built or increased in size for flood mitigation purposes and these dams HAVE reduced the impact of the current floods on Brisbane. It was thought that they could prevent all future severe flooding of Brisbane, but extreme rainfall does override the best of human effects.
Within the next 12 hours or so the flood will peak in Brisbane and remain at very high levels for 48 hours or so. The weather has improved significantly with sunshine and just a few showers here and there. Search and rescue crews are just now beginning 48 hours after the 'inland tsunami' to search the devastated towns for bodies and within the next 24 hours there is llikely to be a substantial lift in the death toll which is currently 12 with about 57 people listed as missing.

[Qilue]

Have you more precise info/link ? All I can find is that it's comparable to 1893 and 1974 incidents.

All climate indicators of ENSO remain beyond La Niña thresholds. The tropical Pacific Ocean remains much cooler than average for this time of year, with temperatures below the surface up to 4 °C below normal in central and eastern parts (comparable to the La Niña event of 1988). Trade winds are stronger than average, while cloud patterns continue to show a typical La Niña signature with suppressed cloudiness in tropical areas near the dateline. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) value for December of +27 is the highest December SOI value on record, as well as being the highest value for any month since November 1973.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/enso/

Ok, perhaps once in a millennium was an exaggeration, but this kind of weather is unlikely to happen again in my lifetime. Noting also there is still two months of the summer wet season left to run it's course.