Australians have endured floods, bushfires and hailstorms and more over the last two years. The government is better aligning policy to deal with disasters, but its plan is somewhat half-baked.
Cities face harsher, more concentrated rainfall as climate change not only intensifies storms, but draws them into narrower bands of more intense downpours, UNSW engineers have found.
Long term warming of the Indian and Pacific oceans played an important role in making the Queensland floods far worse than they should have been, new research shows.
Flooding risk is often used as an argument against greater environmental flows for the Murray-Darling, but graziers would benefit greatly from floods, writes Richard Kingsford.
Insurance premiums are likely to rise for all Australians in the wake of the Queensland floods, even in areas not prone to flooding, says Professor Michael Sherris of the Australian School of Business.
Australia could have an early warning system that would let authorities predict flash floods and warn people in the path of danger, Associate Professor Linlin Ge says.
Floods across large parts of western Queensland will produce a bird bonanza lasting six to nine months, according to UNSW researcher Professor Richard Kingsford.
