Since the end of December, 2010 Australia is facing, as one old man said, Biblical flood. The territory equal to 20% of Europe is under the water and even more rain comes, rivers bring more water into the land. Is it yet another sign of global warming and should people blame themselves for destroying their own land or is it a natural unavoidable disaster?
Farms, forests, plains and towns – everything now is covered with water in East Australia. While atfirst it was only nature and villages, now the flood strikes the third largest Australian city –Brisbane. Many streets, vehicles and houses have already been hidden under the water, but it is not the end, meteorologists warn. And the total amount of deaths and 1.5 billion euro of loss will only increase.
The rains started in December and huge territories were alarmed as zones of natural disaster. Now the situation in many territories has improved but new rains prove that land is incapable to absorb anymore water. Houses have been destroyed, kangaroos lost their shelter, and businesses have their production destroyed and many Brisbane people will be left without electricity for weeks.
Australia is a rich country – it ranks as the 6th best country in the world to live, and its GDP per-capita is places Australia in top 10 in the world, also Brisbane is the 36th best city in the world to live in. But lost people, lost house with all lives are another side of the medal and it can’t be replaced by an amount of money. On the other hand, the region, including the city, is suffering from the samedisaster for centuries. Every 40 years or so heavy rains and huge floods following them strike Australia. And the current one is not the strongest. In 1974, after a record high water level a dam around the city was built (and now it cannot hold the water back), in the end of XIX century another famous flood also hit the city.
Is it a natural thing, happening every half of a century or was it impacted by heavy pollution in the past century? Scientists say NO. One research showed that pollution divides clouds into smaller parts and also make them less capable to squeeze humidity from themselves; in other words – polluted air dries out clouds. Though it’s not a secret that recently we witnessed so many changes in the weather around us, and nobody could say what we should expect next.
