Another big wet, wet, wet.

Hard to know if this topic makes the news overseas but Australia, especially the east coast is in the midst of another drenching. Just to put it into perspective. Where I live is normally a reasonably high rainfall area, mostly averages 50 inches a year. Usually dry winters, leading into a dry spring & then about 1/2 way through October, the rain starts. Wet humid summers & autumns. This year already, we’ve had 100 inches with 2 months to go until years end.

Communities are at breaking point, some places have already experienced floods earlier in the year. A huge clean up has taken place, people living in mobile homes, caravans & tents, while trying to get their houses back in shape. On top of that a tradie shortage, building supply shortage, increased prices for everyday living items. Govt not quite sure how to deal with the overwhelm.

We have a land mass almost the size of America, divided into 6 states & 2 territories, with this current weather system almost a 1/3 of the country is under threat from flooding. A far cry from 2019-20, when we had the worst bushfire season on record. It takes until now that a conversation regarding urban sprawl & building on flood plains, developer greed, govt short sightedness, to say this has to end. You may have heard me mention before about putting much thought into choosing which property is right for you & water is important, especially when planning drought resilience but you really have to consider flood mitigation in these truly uncertain, unstable environmental times. So glad & grateful that I am in a safe position.


Comments

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Sorry to hear that you are going through another round of flooding.

    I was looking at some of the pictures online. Brings back memories of the flooding here in BC last November.

    I hope there is no loss of life in this one. Are you volunteering with your local emergency team again?

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @torey we have definitely dodged a bullet in regard to the flooding currently in progress. I haven’t done any SES volunteering of late. I’ve been busy with the Resilient Communities program that I was facilitating & the actions that have come from that. But I have to say that my last couple of experiences I had with them, left me wondering if I’d made the right choice! Looking back on the 8-10 jobs I was involved in, only one was a legitimate emergency. The some were people experiencing leaky roofs from previous storm damage that insurance company’s hadn’t fixed yet & a couple of jobs were people who had the odd drip coming from an air- conditioning vent! I would never ring the emergency services if I had a drip coming from a ceiling. I’d either investigate or call a plumber or tradie to deal with it. Not a free service of volunteers, that actually may be needed for something more serious. The culture is “blokey” & I’m not sure this almost 60 yr old woman needs to deal with that. I’m sitting on my decision for a little while.

    Today the rain has stopped in our region & looks like a clear, fine week ahead but for some waiting for flood waters to head downstream, must be a very anxious time. Our landscape is just so full, that any rain is a bit of a big deal at the moment. I can’t remember this happening in my lifetime!

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @JodieDownUnder sorry to hear about the floods. Floods in Australia were also on our news and I was thinking of you - whether you are affected by the floods. Fingers crossed that the rains stop.

    it would be good to collect the water for the dry seasons or the dry regions, but those must be enormous and very expensive projects. There were TV Programms on Canary Islands where they make huge dams to collect rain water and the distribute it to farmers.

    on our small scale we installed two huge underground water tanks to collect rain water when it comes and use, when we do not have any rain.

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @JodieDownUnder Glad you are in a safe position. Underground water tanks...... hmmm, will have to talk to family about this!

  • marjstratton
    marjstratton Posts: 1,132 ✭✭✭✭

    Sorry to hear about your flooding events. We had a bad flood situation last winter. Lots of people were impacted.

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @water2world underground concrete tanks are a very popular option in Australia. We have a 90,000 litre tank under our driveway & you wouldn’t know it was there. Not only do they supplement our water supply, they can survive during a bushfire, can be pumped from during a fire & could be a life saving option if things got out of control during a fire. A must in our environment, needless to say it is full at the moment!!!