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Australia: Flooding in New South Wales and Queensland 2022

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Flooding in the streets of Brisbane in March 2022.
Alex Cimbal/Shutterstock

Introduction

Flooding in New South Wales and southeast Queensland has led to lost lives, homes, belongings, pets and livelihoods. Thousands of people in south-western Sydney have been ordered to evacuate as extreme rain pummels the region and floodwaters rise rapidly. The devastating floods have also cut off power for tens of thousands of people across New South Wales and Queensland, limiting their access to basic amenities and hampering rescue efforts.

This region, particularly Western Sydney, is no stranger to climate-related disasters.

 

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Knowledge base

Aerial View of homes under water in Australia's flooding disaster. Also features paddlers surveying damage.
Updates

Flooded Home Buyback scheme helps wash away the pain for Queenslanders

It’s almost a year since floods devastated parts of Ipswich in Southeast Queensland. Over the course of four days (February 25-28 2022), Ipswich received 682 millimetres of rain and the Bremer River rose to 16.72m in the centre of the city.
Conversation Media Group, the
Updates

Northern Rivers' voluntary home buy backs to start

Around 2,000 homeowners in flood-prone areas of the Northern Rivers of New South Wales will now be eligible to raise, repair, retrofit or have their home voluntarily bought back, as part of a A$800 million government program.
Australia - government
Updates

What’s in the mud? Flood victims’ fears eased by early test results

Flooding stirs up river sediments, which can spread contaminants in our waterways and floodplains. Flood water can carry sediments bearing contaminants from a range of sources, such as sewage, petrol stations, industrial yards and farming areas.
Conversation Media Group, the
A stack of sandbags in front of a door.
Updates

Beyond a state of sandbagging: What can we learn from all the floods, here and overseas?

“We are […] sandbagging the state”, New South Wales Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke declared on Saturday. And so we endure the third La Niña season with this waiting-for-the-next-disaster attitude.
Conversation Media Group, the
Updates

Nearly 6 months on, flood victims are still waiting to be housed. This is what Australia must do to be ready for the next disaster

This year’s floods in South-East Queensland and Northern New South Wales devastated communities. The NSW flooding was on “a scale never seen before”. More than 5,000 homes were left uninhabitable. Many residents had nowhere else to go.
Conversation Media Group, the
Updates

‘Tinnie army’ leads to NSW flood inquiry call to train community members as first responders. How will that work?

When floods swept the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales earlier this year, scores of people ignored official advice and rescued neighbours and friends from floodwaters using their boats, kayaks and jet skis, while risking their own lives.
Conversation Media Group, the
Lismore on a map of Australia's East coast.
Updates

It’s time to come clean on Lismore’s future. People and businesses have to relocate away from the floodplains

More than three months after the monster floods wrecked much of Lismore, there is still no clarity for the town’s residents and businesses who urgently need to make investment decisions. Should they move to higher ground, make temporary fixes, renovate?
Conversation Media Group, the
Updates

Planetary waves, cut-off lows and blocking highs: what’s behind record floods across the Southern Hemisphere?

To understand how extreme weather like this year’s Southern Hemisphere deluges will change as the climate warms, we must understand the underlying physical processes responsible for their development.
Conversation Media Group, the
Updates

Stormy times still ahead unless lessons are learnt from recent floods

Australia needs more investment in hydrological modelling and new infrastructure to reduce the impact of major flood events, UNSW expert says.
University of New South Wales
Updates

Lismore faced monster floods all but alone. We must get better at climate adaptation, and fast

While local and state governments have led the way on climate adaptation to date, citizens have much more to do, as the worrying lack of preparation for the floods that devastated Lismore makes clear.
Conversation Media Group, the