Army aircraft are flying to North Queensland

“Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft including both C-17 Globemaster’s (heavy transport aircraft) and C-130 Hercules are on standby to fly north to cyclone-affected areas and the Australian army based in Townsville is preparing Blackhawk and Chinook aircraft to assist in emergency operations,” an ADF member (Australian Defence Force) said yesterday.

On Wednesday ADF helicopters, eight Blackhawk’s, three Chinooks and three NH90s had flown from Townsville to Mackay Airport due to Tropical Cyclone Yasi emergency, but the aircraft soon came back to Townsville yesterday to go and assist in disaster recovery operations in North Queensland.

“There are approximately 4000 defence personnel based in Townsville and it is expected they will form a joint taskforce to support post impact emergency relief assistance.

I can tell you that every southern hemisphere summer, we are confronted with some sort of natural disaster, including Bush Fires, Cyclones, and Floods.

Summer is Not pleasant in most parts of Australia, and summer in most parts lasts for at least 6 months, not the usual 3 months. This year has been particularly bad. It is often stifling & oppressive. Since November last yr & in the last 6 weeks especially we’ve had & heard nothing but “natural distaters” on tv. We either have too much water or not enough water. Even now we are not prepared to cope with these extreme conditions. It has been very costly for the economy too.

Electricity prices were raised during last financial year & will be raised again by at least 20% starting in July 2011, because we need to upgrade our electricity infrastructure to cope with population demand!

I remember the media here advertised complaints from some in Australia about a ‘cold summer’ in Nov. early December because temperatures were mosly, on the East Coast at least, just below 30C!

Believe it or not, some people here say they “love it” when the temp is 30C or above often with humidity of 70% plus. Don’t know about those peole, but most don’t like to constantly live in a sauna or an oven. Nor the natural distasters that result from these extreme weather conditions. The start to 2011 has not been good for Australia at all.

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