Floods and Climate Change
You’ve seen images of the devastating floods across our country and now in our own backyard. Tens of thousands of people have lost their homes, their businesses and, for at least 18 people, their lives. At Environment Victoria, our hearts and thoughts go out to all the individuals, families and communities who have been affected.
While it’s always impossible to say that any specific weather event has been 'caused by climate change', these floods are reminder of what climate science has been telling us for years and years. That along with global warming and the rise of sea levels, more frequent extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, bushfires and floods should be expected.
Here’s some of the media coverage highlighting the links between floods and global warming courtesy of the Climate Action Centre...
thursday, 17 februay 2011
Flood risk 'doubled' by greenhouse pollution
Scientists have shown for the first time that human activity has made extreme rainfall and floods around the globe worse in recent decades...more
tuesday, 25 JANUARY 2011
Cuts in emissions are at a premium
Is there a link between human-caused climate change and the extreme flooding in Queensland and Victoria? And if so, what does it mean for insurance...more
sunday, 23 JANUARY 2011
More natural disasters on Australia's radar
An expert says Australia will see a higher incidence of extreme weather events like the flooding in Queensland...more
tUESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2011
Rapid roundup: Queensland flood crisis – experts respond
Australian experts comment on various aspects of the flooding crisis in south eastern Queensland...more
SUNDAY, 16 JANUARY 2011
Hotter, colder, wetter: it's a new world of extremes
In a land of droughts and flooding rains, it's often hard to remember when you're being scorched by one or submerged by the other...more
sunday, 16 january 2011
More of Australia getting hot and wet extremes
The proportion of Australia experiencing hot and wet extremes has increased in line with predictions of the impact of rising greenhouse gas emissions...more
sunday, 16 january 2011
Of droughts, flooding rains and climate change
We respond well to an emergency, but global warming is an emergency too...more
saturday, 15 january 2011
Ex-Met Office chief blames greenhouse gases for floods
Extreme weather events in Brazil and Australia, which have killed hundreds of people, point towards a global warming trend, a Welsh climate change expert said last night...more
saturday, 15 january 2011
Chief Scientist: Room for hope as floodwaters subside
This devastation can help us learn to deal with changing natural forces...more
saturday, 15 january 2011
Disaster expert urges a retreat from the coast
SOME areas of Queensland are so flood-prone they should never have been built on and should be declared no-go zones, with residents bought out and moved out, according to an international disaster expert...more
friday, 14 january 2011
2010 the planet's wettest year and equal hottest
LAST year was the world's wettest on record, and tied 2005 as the hottest year since record-keeping began in 1880...more
friday, 14 january 2011
Climate chaos across world as La Nina makes her mark
As Queenslanders battle the state's worst flooding disaster in decades, countries around the world are also grappling with climatic chaos that has killed hundreds and affected millions more...more
thursday, 13 january 2011
El Nino seen triggering next world warmth record
Last year tied with 2005 as the warmest on record, according to U.S. agencies, but is likely to be overtaken soon by the next year with a strong El Nino weather event, experts said on Thursday...more
wednesday, 12 JANUARY 2011
Building more dams is no way to prevent flood catastrophe
NOW is not the time to panic as we scramble to find ways to help the people affected by the floods. Calling for the building of new dams is, however, not a satisfactory response to a very wet La Nina year...more
wednesday, 12 january 2011
All the wrong stars aligned for perfect storms
THE strong La Nina pattern taking moisture to north-eastern Australia has been exaggerated by record high ocean temperatures, a combination not seen on this scale since the deadly Brisbane flood of 1974...more
wednesday, 12 january 2011
Scientists see climate change link to Australian floods
Climate change has likely intensified the monsoon rains that have triggered record floods in Australia's Queensland state, scientists said on Wednesday, with several months of heavy rain and storms still to come...more
wednesday, 12 january 2011
Fire and rain: the lessons of natural disasters
Queenslanders knew this summer's storms would be severe and bad flooding was likely. The weather bureau warned state cabinet of the dangers in a briefing last October...more
wednesday, 12 january 2011
Australian Conservation Foundation flooding and climate change fact sheet
Recent scientific advice to the Queensland Government warned that the state would be threatened by higher flood levels from intense torrential downpours brought on by climate change...more
tuesday, 11 january 2011
Global warming will cause further extreme weather patterns, climate change chief says
One of Julia Gillard's top climate change advisers has warned that global warming may cause more extreme rain events...more
tuesday, 11 january 2011
Australia floods: La Niña to blame
The devastating flooding in Queensland is the result of Australia being in the grip of an unusually strong "La Niña", a periodic climate phenomenon that brings more rain to the western Pacific...more
tuesday, 11 january 2011
Have Insurers Begun to Detect Climate Change in Storm Damage?
It's likely that the number of strong storms involving rain, snow and hail is also rising because of warming temperatures, not just urban sprawl and expanding development...more
saturday, 8 january 2011
Global weather disasters a sign the heat is on
NOW for the good news: Australia has just had its coolest year since 2001, with a mean temperature in 2010 of 22C...more
wednesday, 5 january 2011
Floods can help Australia rise toward adaptation to climate change
The Queensland floods and other recent record-breaking weather events can help push Australia further toward becoming a world leader in adapting to the predicted effects of global warming...more
wednesday, 5 january 2011
2010 among Australia's wettest on record
Australia recorded its third wettest year on record in 2010, with 11 months of above-average rainfall soaking the east of the country because of the La Nina weather system...more
wednesday, 5 january 2011
Bureau of Meterology Annual Australian Climate Statement 2010
Data collected by the Bureau of Meteorology show that the Australian mean rainfall total for 2010 was 690 mm, well above the long-term average of 465 mm...more
tuesday, 4 january 2011
Munich Re: “The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change”
Flawed study on impact of climate change on damages from Atlantic hurricanes ignores one of its own references and many key factors...more
monday, 14 june 2010
Exclusive interview: NCAR’s Trenberth on the link between global warming and extreme deluges
New England, Tennessee, Oklahoma.... Who's next?...more
thursday, 24 september 2009
Droughts and flooding rains to intensify
A new breed of El Nino is on the rise causing more intense monsoons over northern Australia, says a climate scientist...more
Extreme weather events - what can we expect?
CSIRO scientists are using a number of different methods to predict the risk of occurrence of severe weather events...more
tuesday, 9 november 2004
Climate change to increase extreme rainfall
The climate of 2040 is likely to bring more intense and more frequent extreme rainfall events to coastal eastern Australia, according to a CSIRO climate expert...more
thursday, 5 june 2003
More floods, population: more costs at the coast
The cost to the community of coastal flooding could more than double in some areas in the next fifty years due to global warming...more
