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nichy
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Greens says, a taste of things to come due to burning coal
OK greens, just a few facts for you :
Wagga is built on the alluvial floodplain of the Murrumbidgee River so, not surprisingly, it has had to deal with flooding many times.
The first flood known to white people occurred in October 1844.
Floods occur when water covers land which is normally dry. Floods in Australia range from localised flash flooding as a result of thunderstorms, to more widespread flooding following heavy rain over the catchment areas of river systems. Flooding is also a regular seasonal phenomenon in Northern Australia. Australian towns were built on floodplains despite warnings from local Aborigines. Nyngan (meaning flood in its local Aboriginal language) was severely flooded on 23 April 1990.
Gundagai was rebuilt on a new site after a flood in 1852 wiped out 71 buildings, and 89 of the town's 250 inhabitants died. More people would have perished were it not for the heroism of local Aborigine Yarri of the Wiradjuri people and his mate Jackie, who saved more than 40 people using a simple bark canoe.
Heatwaves are the most underrated of the natural disasters, as the bushfires that accompany many heatwaves tend to get most of the attention, and in Australia they have caused the greatest loss of life on any natural hazard (except disease).
Unlike bushfires, there is generally no escaping a heatwave. While the 1939 'Black Friday' bushfires in Victoria killed 71 people and are written into our history, the accompanying heatwave - which triggered the blazes - claimed 438 lives and yet remains largely unacknowledged.
Australia has experienced two significant '100-year droughts' in the last 100 or so years as well as others not described here. These major droughts have resulted in financial losses, personal hardship and environmental damage.
In Western New South Wales and west Darling areas, the 1895 Federation Drought was exacerbated by heavy overstocking, and the arrival of rabbits which crossed the Murray River into western New South Wales in 1881 and reached plague proportions. Overstocking caused widespread severe erosion and increased the effects of the drought.
Cyclone Mahina, 1899 In March 1899 in Cape York, Queensland, Cyclone Mahina resulted in the greatest death toll of any natural disaster in Australia's recorded history. Over 400 people died, including the crews of around 100 pearling fleet vessels, and an estimated 100 local Aborigines
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