Posted on 06/10/2007 7:14:46 PM PDT by blam
Australia braced for more storms as nine die
By Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 1:42am BST 11/06/2007
Australians were braced for more atrocious weather this week after the worst storms in more than 30 years killed nine people and forced the evacuation of thousands of others in the East as swollen rivers cut off towns and farms.
During three days of wild weather roads collapsed, cars were washed away with people still inside and a giant freighter was washed ashore by mountainous seas at Newcastle, north of Sydney.
John Howard, the prime minister, called it "an immense disaster".
The damage to Newcastle, a coal and steel town, was worse than that caused by an earthquake which hit the city in 1989, officials said.
High seas hindered efforts to save the 30,000 ton coal freighter Pasha Bulker on Nobbys Beach on Friday, amid fears the vessel could break up, releasing 700 tons of fuel oil.
Stormy seas hammered popular beaches such as Bondi, pushing sand up on to the promenade and burying footpaths and benches.
More than 100,000 homes were left without power in Sydney, Newcastle and areas in between.
A large part of New South Wales was declared a disaster area, as rescuers found the bodies of two adults and three children whose car plunged into a creek when the road collapsed beneath them.
An elderly couple died after their car was swept off a bridge by floods and a 45-year-old man drowned as he stepped out of his car. A 29-year-old driver was crushed by a tree.
More rain is expected this week. However, the torrential downpour was confined to a relatively small area and most of southern Australia remains stricken by drought.
Oh. I guess they must have an immigration problem, too, causing such disasters.
It is amazing to me how out of touch the MSM is on the drought conditions here in Oz. The drought broke in South Australia about 8 weeks ago. We have had very good rains, and in fact, the farmers are predicting that we will have record crops in South Australia this season.
Now were they or were they not complaining about a record dry period?
I mean, come on damn it! It’s the weather!!!!!! It changes!
Too little rain everyone complains. Too much rain everyone complains!!!
Call the WAAAMBULANCE
Boy am I suprised. My NZ neighbor and I were just talking about the Australian droughts two days ago. I'm glad to hear they're over...I was starting to worry that we'd have to send Algore over, ahem.
By Madelene Pearson
June 7 (Bloomberg) — Grain farmers in South Australia, the nation’s third-largest wheat growing state, will sow a record area to crops this year as drought conditions ease.
Farmers will plant crops including wheat, barley and canola over an estimated 3.95 million hectares (9.76 million acres) this season, Rural Solutions SA said today in a report on its Web site. That compares with 3.7 million hectares last year.
Output in Australia, the world’s third-largest wheat and canola exporter, plunged last harvest during one of the nation’s worst droughts in a century. Farmers are expected to increase plantings after recent rain to take advantage of wheat’s 35 percent gain in the past year.
``Growing season rainfall, April to May, currently ranges from average to above-average across all districts,’’ the government agency forecast. ``This has been a near ideal start to the season with good levels of soil moisture allowing excellent opportunities for effective weed control and seeding around the optimum time.’’
The state’s production of wheat may more than double to 3.23 million metric tons this harvest. Barley production may double to 2.25 million tons of barley and canola output may more than triple to 237,500 tons, Rural Solutions said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on mpearson1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: June 7, 2007 04:09 EDT
I was going to post something about that. I had heard several times over the last few years that Australia had been going through a long drought. I’d think most Aussies would be quite pleased with a little rain. Well, those Aussies that didn’t have there homes destroyed anyway.
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