Floods, fires, climate responses.

Our Sydney weatherman loves records and our weather is providing him with plenty to talk about. In late 2022 it was all about rain, how much we've had and how much was still coming.  Now he is talking about temperature and the fact that it is a long time, 140 years, since Sydney, the part of Sydney on the seaboard at least, has had such a long run of below 30⁰C days. Our summer has been very variable so far but also unseasonably cool. Yesterday the run of cool days was broken with a hot humid day, but barely over 30⁰. A cool change and rain deluge swept in from the south last night and today is a moist 23⁰C. 

La Niña is expected to ease over summer but the thought of El Niño doesn't bring much joy. The bushfires in 2019/20 are still vivid in our memories and now we know that their increased ferocity makes it impossible for people to stay and defend their homes we are not nearly as sanguine. 

Floods, fire and our industry-captured governments continue to approve new gas exploration and forest-felling licences while legislating more draconian punishments for people who protest them. Perhaps the only way for the population to save themselves will be to drop tools and simply sit down on the streets, Mahatma Gandhi fashion. 

Australia, land of extremes

After months of fires, the East Coast of Australia now has floods. During the fires the Australian Broadcasting Service (ABC) did a wonderful job of keeping people informed about which areas were under threat, when they should leave adn where they should go. Yesterday afternoon and evening  the same team were again giving evacuation advice, but this time for floods. After two days of torrential rain,  300mm fell on many parts of Sydney overnight  and 500mm on the Blue Mountains. Transport is in chaos today and people are being advised to work from home today if they can.

I read now that south coast people now approach ABC staff to thank them for help in desperate times. In many cases, with power off and no wifi, these people were dependent on battery radios for their information and the ABC was the outstanding performer.

It is hard to believe, but our far-right wing government favours a commercial station over their own ABC, paid for and owned by the Australian people. They have cut the ABC and cut it again, and more cuts are planned. They don't like having a broadcaster that is neutral and tells the truth. Who cares that they are the best source of information by a country mile? Woe is us.

Some trickster has doctored a photo of the harbour bridge to make it appear like a waterfall. Probably some will believe it, such is fake news in our era. If you want to see a real waterfall, search for Wentworth Falls on google. Those falls in the Blue Mountains are bucketing down the cliff after so much rain.

Fake floods - tricksters phototshopped image

Real floods in Sydney yesterday (photo: ABC)

Nelson fires (2)

Smoke haze enveloped Nelson in the morning yesterday.  Three thousand people have been evacuated from Wakefield just south west of the city. Then at 2:30, after the  afternoon concert we came out and could see that another fire had broken out near the city..

Fire near the centre of Nelson

it was just up the road from  my hostel and I got a note from my friend in Stoke (on the way to Wakefield) saying she thought she should come and get me as the hostel was very near a big nature reserve and if that caught alight I'd be having to leave in a hurry. So I am now in Stoke and much relieved.  We both felt better having someone to talk to about this unfolding catastrophe. The civil defence issued a notice saying anxiety is common in these situations and it is best to talk to others!

I don't think I would have slept much at the hostel even though the fire was largely controlled by nightfall. They had two helicopters working on it almost immediately.

Nelson fire

Coming back from a concert in a tiny church at Lake Rotoiti, we saw smoke  billowing from the hills nearby.

Poor Nelson. The sky is now orange, covered in smoke from a huge uncontrolled fire in  nearby Wakefield. The country is tinder dry as there has been no rain since Christmas.

Wednesday: the fire has doubled overnight with four farmhouses lost.  One of my concert seat neighbours got a message yesterday not to come home. The fire feels very close.

Smoke over Nelson yesterday afternoon

NSW fires worsen

Firefront map

Over two hundred homes have already been lost in NSW and we are in for a scary week. Hoped for rain now looks unlikely, the fires burning in the Blue Mountains are massive and very hot temperatures and northerly winds are forecast. A few minutes ago the rural fire service published this map. The bright orange is where the fiercest fires are. My thoughts are with the residents of the Blue Mountains as all settlements are now under threat.

Greens MP Adam Bandt was criticised for tweeting that this type of ferocious fire is climate change related but today Peter FitzSimons wrote that that the Greens have been warning us all about this for decades, so why shouldn't they keep warning us?  Hear hear! We thought we could do what we wanted to the environment, but nature is proving us wrong.

At the same time as we have this massive firestorm the new Government is trying to dismantle policies that have been successful in cutting CO2 emissions and today we learn that the Government is probably going to cut clean technology grants. Makes you wonder if we deserve to survive.

The globe warms up

Fire at Palm Beach in Sydney (photo from abc website)

In New Zealand the leaves are still to unfurl while in Australia it is hotter than ever.
The IPCC report is out, the coal/oil funded climate change deniers are searching for new ways to deny and meanwhile we have had the hottest summer ever and it looks as if another is on the way. Already a fire in the north of Sydney has caught people unawares.


(Photo is from  ABC website )