Warming Climate Is A Global Issue

Storms In South-East Queensland

SES crews are completing repair work after yesterday’s storms in south-east Queensland.

More than 60 homes were damaged at Logan.

SES group leader in Beenleigh Brett McDonaugh says it was the region’s worst storm in recent months, and more could be on the way.

“It obviously signals the start of the storm season for south-east Queensland … and hopefully, with any luck, this afternoon’s storm won’t bring any further damage to it,” he said.

Energex says about 28,000 customers lost power during yesterday’s storm.

About 5,500 homes and businesses on the Sunshine Coast between Maroochydore, Nambour and Chevallum were blacked out.

Power was restored to most of them by early this morning.

Jeddah Flooding

DUBAI – Saudi’s King Abdullah has ordered the government to compensate families hit by the last week’s severe flooding in Jeddah that floods killed more than 100 people, local daily Arab News reported on Monday.

The newspaper said families are to receive 2,400 riyals ($640) a week, while the government will also meet the cost of treatment for flood victims at both state and private hospitals.

A huge rainstorm on Wednesday sparked the flash floods in the city, with many victims caught in their cars and drowning in two metres (6.5 feet) or more of water.

Roads were destroyed and cars and trucks left in piles after the waters receded on Thursday.

The flooding also caused blackouts in parts of the city, with electricity yet to be restored in some of the worst hit areas.

Jeddah Governor Prince Mishaal bin Majed has called on clean-up teams to restore electricity and remove debris as quickly as possible, the newspaper said.

Jeddah Downpour

Winds, storms wreak havoc in Adelaide

Emergency service crews have responded to more than 300 call-outs since strong winds and rain began to lash the state late on Friday night.

The majority of jobs were in metropolitan Adelaide, where 100-kilometre-an-hour winds brought down trees and power lines.

Adelaide has received 10 millimetres of rain since 9:00am on Saturday and more than 30 millimetres has fallen in some parts of the hills.

The Symphony Under the Stars event at Elder Park was cancelled because of the bad weather.

Irish Floods

LIMERICK, Ireland, Nov. 27 (UPI) — Residents in parts of Ireland prepared Friday for the possibility of flooding due to heavy rain and rising Shannon River water levels, officials said.

The Irish Times reported while several homes in parts of Castleconnell and Montpelier, Ireland, have been evacuated as a precaution, flood defense efforts are under way from Athlunkard Bridge to Hampstead Park.

Meanwhile, sandbags are being deployed by the Limerick City Council to aid in flood prevention efforts in the area.

Emergency supplies of fodder are being distributed by the Irish Farmers’ Association to help those impacted by prior flooding.

The Mid-West and West were facing a severe crisis overnight amid dire predictions of catastrophic flooding from the overflowing River Shannon.

ESB officials said the rate in increase of the water levels has decreased to nearly 0.4 inches during the last 24 hours.

The Irish Times said despite the decrease, a flood warning along the lower parts of the river remains in effect.

NSW – Extreme Fire Danger

Victorian Fire Season – Serious Warning

VICTORIA is set to endure the worst drought conditions since the 1930s as maximum summer temperatures soar, CFA chief fire officer Russell Rees has warned.

But deputy chief officer John Haynes says the CFA is ready to manage a dozen major bushfires simultaneously this summer under a “worst case scenario”.

That’s two more than Black Saturday in February when 173 people died and 2000 homes were destroyed.

In a weather presentation to federal Victorian MPs at Parliament House in Canberra, Mr Rees today said there was a 55 per cent chance of summer temperatures being hotter.

November maximum temperatures in much of southern Australia are running at eight degrees “or thereabouts” hotter than average, he added.

“I’m just stating the facts, all right,” the Black Saturday bushfires veteran said.

Without mentioning the 1939 Black Friday bushfires, in which 71 Victorians died, Mr Rees said drought conditions could end up being the worst in seven decades.

“Even if we have average rainfall for the rest of the year, we will probably end up in a climate scenario similar to 1938-39, or worse than, in terms of rainfall deficit,” Mr Rees told the MPs associated with the bushfires reconstruction effort.

“So, the picture is not pretty.”

He added the outlook was for average rainfall continuing for the next three months.

“Hotter and drier, those predictions have actually come back,” Mr Rees said.

Recent rains had not alleviated the dry conditions across the state, he said.

“Some places in Victoria, and generally overall … we are more in rainfall deficit this year than what we were last year,” Mr Rees said.

“And it’s not recognised all that much.”

The media was asked to leave the presentation when the topic turned to bushfire preparedness.

Under changes revealed to the Bushfires Royal Commission today, Mr Haynes said the CFA was preparing for days of severe and higher bushfire risk.

“We reckon we’re better organised between the agencies to allow incident areas at a state level to be able to deliver better responses,” he said.

“Our facilities have improved, now we’ve got a single line of control, and we’re heading down to an agreement for training standards in the future.”

But the bushfires inquiry has still identified several areas of CFA operations which could lead to similar failures if the state is faced with another Black Saturday.

Counsel assisting the inquiry, Rachel Doyle, SC, questioned why the CFA only planned to have 50 per cent of top level incident controllers available on a day of high bushfire risk.

“We have more than enough people, it seems the difficulty is where they are and where they should be placed,’’ Ms Doyle said.

“Yes, that’s correct,’’ Mr Haynes replied.

Mr Haynes said the decision to plan for only 50 per cent of staff being available was his own estimate with “no science behind it”.

Among other changes, at least 13 new positions have been created for Incident Management Teams, which are responsible for managing a fire on-the-ground.

A new public information officer is among those who will be appointed to every IMT this summer and will be solely responsible for issuing warnings.

Ms Doyle also argued why an 18-month timeframe was given for the development of new training standards when a comprehensive format already exists.

Mr Haynes agreed, saying “good question”, but said the CFA hoped to use the existing format to assist with the development of new standards sooner.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/drought-conditions-worst-since-1930s-warns-cfa-chief-fire-officer-russell-rees/story-e6frf7jo-1225804200041

Victoria Drought

VICTORIA is set to endure the worst drought conditions since the 1930s as maximum summer temperatures soar, CFA chief fire officer Russell Rees has warned.

Melbourne Storms

Lightning is causing havoc across Melbourne’s transport system with Connex warning of major delays on most of its lines and two trams struck in the city’s east.

It was not known how many passengers were on board but both routes are used by students at that time of the day.

Yarra Trams said no-one was injured in the incidents, which occurred on Wattletree and Malvern roads.

Yarra Trams said this afternoon all tram routes were running late due to heavy traffic caused by the storms.

Meanwhile, Connex says 10 out of 15 lines have been affected by storm damage, leaving most services at least 20 minutes late, a Connex spokeswoman said.

Lightning strikes had caused signals to fail on the Sydenham and Upfield lines, with services delayed by half an hour.

Maintenance crews are scrambling to fix the damage but commuters are warned to brace for long delays approaching the peak travel period.

‘‘We’re just asking people to be patient,’’ spokeswoman Laney Harris said.

A train was struck by lightning at Sunshine, while lightning struck a signal box at Caulfield.

Buses have replaced trains between Box Hill and Ringwood after a tree fell over the track at Laburmum.

A number of boom gates are stuck down across the network due to an automatic failsafe triggered after equipment failure.

The Connex spokeswoman warned the boom gates would have a flow-on effect on traffic.

‘‘This has been a massive knock to the network and we’re working hard to recover,’’ she said.

V/Line’s 1.15pm service to Bendigo has been stopped by a fallen tree between Woodend and Sunbury. Crews were working to clear the line, a V/Line spokesman said.

Motorists have been warned to take care with traffic lights out or flashing across the state.

The State Emergency Service have been inundated with calls for assistance from around the state.

At 2.45pm, an SES spokesperson said: ‘‘We have received some 33 calls within the last half an hour, predominantly coming in from the Bendigo and Shepparton areas.’’

Most calls were reporting cases of either property damage or flooding, including a tree crashing through a house roof in outer-northeastern Eltham and flooded home in eastern suburban Blackburn.

Calls were also coming in from Melbourne’s outer eastern and western suburbs, the spokesperson said.

Greensborough Plaza shopping centre, in Melbourne’s outer northeast, has been flooded in a downpour and Metropolitan Fire Brigade crews trying to pump out a ‘‘large amount’’ of water, an MFB spokeswoman said.

The storm hit central Melbourne about 2.30pm after Victorians were warned to prepare for more wild weather with heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds across the state.

Melbourne’s temperature hit 30 degrees before the forecast severe thunder storms and heavy rain arrived.

A weather bureau spokesman said ‘‘temperatures will drop some seven to eight degrees during the storms, but will climb back up towards the high 20s once they have passed through’’.

High winds came with the heavy rain. ‘‘Winds are currently recorded as producing gusts of 50 km/h in the central Melbourne metropolitan area,’’ the spokesman said.

He warned winds could escalate as high as 70-80 km/h during the worst of the thunderstorms, with the potential to cause significant damage.

A highly unstable weather pattern from the north is bringing fast-moving and damaging storms, the bureau said.ys.

“Due to the very humid and tropical conditions currently being experienced across the state, heavy rain fall could develop quickly, the main worry being that localised flash flooding could occur within the CBD this afternoon,” a spokesman for the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Conditions were “so unstable” that thunderstorms are almost certain to develop later this afternoon, he said

These storms are expected to produce localised rainfalls in excess of 50 millimetres across the city this afternoon.

Last night, 30 millimetres of rain fell across the north-west of the state and resulted in extensive wind damage in the Mallee town of Woomelang, south of Ouyen.

The warm, unstable and very humid conditions look to have settled in for an extended stay.

“Temperatures aren’t expected to increase greatly however the muggy, tropical conditions will be in effect until the humidity levels drop on either Saturday night or early Sunday morning,” the spokesman said.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/wild-weather-knocks-out-trains-as-storms-lash-state-20091126-jte3.html?autostart=1

Eastern Australian Drought

OFFICIAL drought figures reveal just 1.9 per cent of New South Wales is considered satisfactory.

The area of NSW battling drought is 73.6 per cent, a marked increase from last month (up from 67.7 per cent), says Minister for Primary Industries, Tony Kelly.

The area of NSW which is considered satisfactory has decreased to 1.9 per cent of the State (down from 4.9 per cent), while 24.5 percent of NSW is considered marginal (down from 27.4 per cent).

“These figures illustrate the tough conditions in country NSW with almost the entire state now feeling the effects of this relentless dry,” says Mr Kelly.

“Not even the coastal areas of NSW have escaped; they are either drought declared or suffering marginal conditions.

“In fact, the latest drought map of our state only shows one satisfactory patch, which is in the Central Tablelands.

“As summer approaches, we can expect warmer temperatures and hot winds – this combined with the forecast of below average rainfall will see pasture growth and water supplies decline.”

Mr Kelly says Industry & Investment NSW had estimated that the winter crop harvest was now more than 75 per cent complete and dry conditions had taken a devastating toll.

“Hot, dry weather prompted an early harvest this year and in most parts yields have been disappointing due to a combination of moisture stress and frost damage,” he says.

“Farmers planted 3.2 million hectares of wheat this year, however just 2.6 million hectares is expected to harvested.

“The NSW cotton crop is forecast at 100,000 hectares, which is still less than 50 per cent of normal plantings.

“While livestock condition and the availability of stock water is reasonable, many areas will face stock water issues over summer if we don’t receive decent rain soon.

“In terms of water supplies, the total storage level is 31 per cent of total storage capacity, up 3.2 per cent on last month and 0.6 per cent lower than the same time last year.”