Latest news with #AndrewGissing
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Deadly Australian floods were made worse by climate crisis and such storms are no longer ‘natural', scientists warn
The deadly floods that swept across New South Wales this week were intensified by the climate crisis, scientists said even as tens of thousands of people remained cut off. At least five people died and over 10,000 properties were damaged in what Australian officials described as one of the worst floods in recent memory. The worst-hit areas included the Mid North Coast and the Northern Rivers, where some towns were submerged for days and key infrastructure was washed away. The floods, sparked by days of incessant rain, submerged town intersections and street signs and covered cars up to their windshields after fast-rising waters burst riverbanks. At their peak, the floods isolated some 50,000 people. Meteorologists have noted that the flooding was sparked by a near-stationary trough system combined with a pool of cold upper-level air and moisture-laden easterly winds – conditions that have grown more extreme due to rising global average temperatures. An analysis by ClimaMeter, a climate monitoring initiative, found weather patterns like those driving this week's floods have become up to 15 per cent wetter than in the past, largely due to the warming atmosphere. The Climate Council, an Australian research group, also said that these kinds of disasters were no longer simply 'natural'. The latest research for Australia showed more rain was falling during extreme events, the organisation said. 'We've had back-to-back flood events since the 2019-20 fires,' said Andrew Gissing, chief executive of Natural Hazards Research Australia. 'These are compounding events for communities still in recovery; it's what we expect with people being in a constant state of disaster recovery under climate change.' Taree, one of the worst-hit towns, experienced its wettest May on record, with 427mm rainfall, more than a third of the yearly average, falling in just two days. Australia's prime minister, Anthony Albanese, acknowledged the rising frequency of these events during a visit to areas affected by the floods. Mr Albanese and New South Wales premier Chris Minns had hoped to travel to Taree, but poor conditions prevented them. 'Tragically, we are seeing more extreme weather events. They are occurring more frequently, and they're more intense,' Mr Albanese said. 'We need to acknowledge that whilst Australia has always had extreme weather events, the science told us that those events would be more frequent and would be more intense, and that is placing pressure on the system.' He also acknowledged that as the climate crisis was driving more frequent and extreme weather events, insuring homes was 'a real challenge'. He added, however, that his government was in contact with the Insurance Council of Australia. Climate scientists have long warned that Australia's east coast is becoming increasingly vulnerable to extreme rainfall and coastal flooding. The New South Wales government notes that sea surface temperatures in the Tasman Sea, now above average, are fuelling the moisture levels feeding intense storms. Emergency crews have rescued hundreds of people in recent days, but nearly 50,000 residents remain isolated due to flooded roads and damaged infrastructure. The full scale of the damage is still being assessed. Conditions have improved since Friday in the affected areas, but damage assessment is still underway.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Denial is hard to grasp in the city. In flooded Taree, it's bewildering
In the federal election, two demographic fault lines overrode all others: city and country, younger and older. Younger metropolitan voters trend progressive while older rural voters trend conservative. Looking at the floods from the city, young progressive voters look at their country cousins and wonder who is representing their interests – their real life-and-death interests. My brother is rural, white, male, (a little) on the older side and can't work out why – given the overwhelming evidence that in a warming planet lives and livelihoods in the regions are increasingly and disproportionately imperilled by extreme weather events – his community is still represented by people whose energy policy is to dig and drill their way through another generation of fossil fuels until they arrive at some nuclear pie in the sky. Loading He texted later: '100-year floods on the Manning in my lifetime: 1978, 2021, 2025. Before that, 1956. Deniers can say oh, two in four years is not statistically significant. But we need to accept more extremes and readjust to 100-year floods!' It's true that one flood is not proof of anthropogenic climate change. Andrew Gissing, the chief executive of Natural Hazards Research Australia, said, 'It is too early to know the extent that climate change has contributed to the extreme rainfalls. We do know that under a warmer climate that our atmosphere holds more water and that heavy rain events are more likely.' He described this week's flood as a one-in-500 year event. It's hard for people like my brother, who experience this flood as a one-in-five year event, to stretch their imagination wide enough to understand the 'deniers' who claim to represent them. Even if, against the current evidence, the 'deniers' are right and human action is not affecting the climate, as a simple matter of risk mitigation, wouldn't they do all they can to lessen the danger, just on the off chance that the scientific consensus is correct? Denialism is hard enough to grasp in the cities, but in the country it's just bewildering. Nationals leader David Littleproud and his colleagues, whose official policy is to aim at net zero emissions by 2050, voted eight times against important net zero bills in the last parliament. Loading Why would you dig in so stubbornly against representing your own people? Is it just helplessness, thinking that until major emitters such as the US address the problem, there's no point in Australia acting? Is the cost of energy transition deemed not worth it? Is it a rose-tinted reflection of proud country hardiness to take whatever nature throws at them and survive it, and damn the science? Is it the enduring mythology of Said Hanrahan, the 1919 bush poem by the Catholic priest Joseph Patrick Hartigan – 'We'll all be rooned', one day by drought, the next by flood? Or is it just that the Nationals don't actually represent the people on the front line? Is it that the need in Australian politics is for a new rural-based movement to replace a masochistic rearguard action driven by incoherent ideological hatreds? Don't rural people need representatives who are going to act for their children's future? Natural disasters show how quickly individuals move, how they care for each other, how they adapt, how their self-reliance has been moulded by generations of having to do things themselves. We rightly celebrate communities, like those in Lyne, who rally to help one another. Their resilience also gives Canberra ideologues an out. You show your great Australian spirit, and we'll oppose 'green-left conspiracies' and excessive Welcome to Countries, stop trans women from competing in sport. What we won't do is vote for laws that might help to save your planet. Save yourselves. By Thursday morning, the water level was dropping to my brother's ankles. Down on the coast, a herd of cows swept away by the flood had escaped from the river onto the beach. Residents were trying to round them up but the cows, like many of the population of the area, were too cranky. My brother's partner wept when she heard that the horses (and the rabbits and the guinea pig) were still alive. She was pleased that he was too. A neighbour had died. Others were missing. The oyster farmers had been by again, offering more help. In the south of the state, meanwhile, cattle and horses were dying from drought. A different kind of suffering but no less brutal. In Canberra, the regions' elected officials were still talking about themselves.
The Age
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Denial is hard to grasp in the city. In flooded Taree, it's bewildering
In the federal election, two demographic fault lines overrode all others: city and country, younger and older. Younger metropolitan voters trend progressive while older rural voters trend conservative. Looking at the floods from the city, young progressive voters look at their country cousins and wonder who is representing their interests – their real life-and-death interests. My brother is rural, white, male, (a little) on the older side and can't work out why – given the overwhelming evidence that in a warming planet lives and livelihoods in the regions are increasingly and disproportionately imperilled by extreme weather events – his community is still represented by people whose energy policy is to dig and drill their way through another generation of fossil fuels until they arrive at some nuclear pie in the sky. Loading He texted later: '100-year floods on the Manning in my lifetime: 1978, 2021, 2025. Before that, 1956. Deniers can say oh, two in four years is not statistically significant. But we need to accept more extremes and readjust to 100-year floods!' It's true that one flood is not proof of anthropogenic climate change. Andrew Gissing, the chief executive of Natural Hazards Research Australia, said, 'It is too early to know the extent that climate change has contributed to the extreme rainfalls. We do know that under a warmer climate that our atmosphere holds more water and that heavy rain events are more likely.' He described this week's flood as a one-in-500 year event. It's hard for people like my brother, who experience this flood as a one-in-five year event, to stretch their imagination wide enough to understand the 'deniers' who claim to represent them. Even if, against the current evidence, the 'deniers' are right and human action is not affecting the climate, as a simple matter of risk mitigation, wouldn't they do all they can to lessen the danger, just on the off chance that the scientific consensus is correct? Denialism is hard enough to grasp in the cities, but in the country it's just bewildering. Nationals leader David Littleproud and his colleagues, whose official policy is to aim at net zero emissions by 2050, voted eight times against important net zero bills in the last parliament. Loading Why would you dig in so stubbornly against representing your own people? Is it just helplessness, thinking that until major emitters such as the US address the problem, there's no point in Australia acting? Is the cost of energy transition deemed not worth it? Is it a rose-tinted reflection of proud country hardiness to take whatever nature throws at them and survive it, and damn the science? Is it the enduring mythology of Said Hanrahan, the 1919 bush poem by the Catholic priest Joseph Patrick Hartigan – 'We'll all be rooned', one day by drought, the next by flood? Or is it just that the Nationals don't actually represent the people on the front line? Is it that the need in Australian politics is for a new rural-based movement to replace a masochistic rearguard action driven by incoherent ideological hatreds? Don't rural people need representatives who are going to act for their children's future? Natural disasters show how quickly individuals move, how they care for each other, how they adapt, how their self-reliance has been moulded by generations of having to do things themselves. We rightly celebrate communities, like those in Lyne, who rally to help one another. Their resilience also gives Canberra ideologues an out. You show your great Australian spirit, and we'll oppose 'green-left conspiracies' and excessive Welcome to Countries, stop trans women from competing in sport. What we won't do is vote for laws that might help to save your planet. Save yourselves. By Thursday morning, the water level was dropping to my brother's ankles. Down on the coast, a herd of cows swept away by the flood had escaped from the river onto the beach. Residents were trying to round them up but the cows, like many of the population of the area, were too cranky. My brother's partner wept when she heard that the horses (and the rabbits and the guinea pig) were still alive. She was pleased that he was too. A neighbour had died. Others were missing. The oyster farmers had been by again, offering more help. In the south of the state, meanwhile, cattle and horses were dying from drought. A different kind of suffering but no less brutal. In Canberra, the regions' elected officials were still talking about themselves.
The Age
21-05-2025
- Climate
- The Age
NSW flooding as it happened: Mid North Coast, Hunter regions battered by heavy rainfall; Evacuation orders issued as Manning River levels break almost 100-year record
Latest posts Pinned post from 7.35pm Thanks for joining us for our coverage of the Mid North Coast floods. Here's the key points you need to know as we wrap up for the day: More than 48,000 people have been isolated by flooding on the NSW Mid North Coast, as unprecedented floodwaters cut off or inundated thousands of homes. Emergency services have responded to 284 flood rescues in the Mid North Coast and Hunter region in the past 24 hours, including 150 since midnight, as 280 millimetres of rainfall hit the area. The Manning River at Taree is at a level never seen before, breaking an almost 100-year record as it passed six metres early on Wednesday. Taree has experienced one-third of its annual average rainfall in the past two days. Access to disaster funding has been activated at both the state and federal levels. Severe rainfall could continue until Friday, including in Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour. Up to 200 millimetres is forecast for some areas. Emergency warnings have been issued for more than a dozen towns in the region. Andrew Gissing, the chief executive of Natural Hazards Research Australia, said the flooding was the biggest on record for the area, and a one-in-500-year event. With more rain on the forecast tomorrow, we'll be live again first thing on Thursday morning with all the latest updates as the situation develops. Latest posts 7.04pm Minor to major flood and severe weather warnings remain in place across the NSW coast, with heavy downpours expected to continue on Thursday and Friday. The rainfall on the Mid North Coast has well exceeded the Bureau of Meteorology's forecasts, receiving around double the amount of rain expected for the week so far. Taree had seen at least 427mm over two days at 9am this morning, making it already the wettest May on record for the town. 6.27pm Residents of low-lying areas on the Nambucca River are the latest to receive SES advice to evacuate now. The prime minister has also shared a message of support to the Hunter and Mid North Coast regions. 'Our hearts are with all those impacted by the devastating floods across NSW,' he wrote on X. Greens leader Larissa Waters says her heart goes out to those impacted by the NSW floods in the Hunter and on the Mid North Coast. Greens senator Larissa Waters. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen 'This is the climate crisis, and how much more can we expect people to bear?' she asked during an interview with ABC's Afternoon Briefing. 'I am from Meanjin, Brisbane, where we get big floods like that too, and it is so devastating, it is devastating to infrastructure.' Waters said the floods are happening because we are 'burning too much coal and gas', but said that we 'don't have to keep doing that'. 'We've got amazing clean energy reserves here in Australia. We know they produce more jobs than old dirty fossil fuel energy, and we know they are cheaper, so we can keep people's power bills down and protect us from those worsening so-called natural disasters if we do that transition to clean energy.' NSW SES Commissioner Mike Wassing is imploring residents in areas advised to evacuate to do so as soon as possible, as night falls across NSW. 'I cannot stress enough how important it is to heed the warnings of evacuations,' Wassing said at a Wollongong press conference. Wassing at a press conference earlier this year. Credit: Steven Siewert 'We've already seen, over the past few nights, rescue conditions being extremely difficult and dangerous, particularly at nightfall.' Wassing said that those impacted by the latest evacuation warnings, in particular those for Kempsey CBD, Smithtown and Gladstone, should evacuate now if possible. 'I cannot stress enough, that I cannot guarantee that our crews will be able to immediately rescue people if you do not evacuate and heed the warnings.' In the past hour, there's been another tranche of emergency warnings from the SES, advising more people to evacuate now. Residents of low-lying areas of Macksville, just inland from Nambucca Heads, are being told to leave now if it is safe to do so. Here's the latest info on the status of the major grocery stores in the region: Woolworths All Woolworths and BIG W stores in Kempsey closed earlier today following a town evacuation from local authorities. A spokesperson for Woolworths said these stores will remain closed until further notice. 'Our thoughts are with all those impacted by floods on the Mid North Coast of NSW. All Woolworths stores from Newcastle to Port Macquarie remain open and deliveries of essential grocery items continue to travel to impacted communities.' Coles Coles has closed two stores in the Mid North Coast region in response to major flooding, and said they are actively monitoring the situation. 'Our Wingham and Kempsey stores have had to unfortunately close at this stage, and we will reopen these as soon as it is safe to do so,' a Coles spokesperson said. Heavy rainfall over several rivers across the Hunter and the Mid North Coast has led to flooding in the regions. Daily total rainfalls in excess of 200mm has seen the rivers break their banks in various locations. Check out the map below to see where the key waterways run. Photojournalist Kate Geraghty is on the Mid North Coast to capture what's happening on the ground as the floodwaters rise. In one afternoon, Geraghty has photographed several of the SES' nearly 300 rescues, capturing families, a dog and even a fish. Flick through our updating gallery to see Geraghty's work, and other images we've sourced from the scene.
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Hundreds rescued, thousands stranded by NSW floods
Insurers have declared the flooding a significant event and started collecting data for claims, while the state and commonwealth governments have announced disaster support across 16 local government areas. Record-breaking floods in Taree came from a staggering 412mm of rain in two days, as the Manning River peaked at 6.4m and inundated businesses across the town. "(That) is essentially five times the monthly rainfall for May for Taree," the Bureau of Meteorology's Steve Bernasconi said. "In essence, it's received one-third of its average annual rainfall in two days." Natural Hazards Research Australia chief executive Andrew Gissing said flooding in the town was unprecedented, surpassing a 1929 record. "The average frequency of the Manning River reaching peak flood level at Taree is once every 500 years," he said. A coastal trough is moving slowly over the NSW mid-north coast, with some parts expected to be hammered with another 200mm of rain in coming days. More than 1600 SES volunteers are on the job as locals band together to support their communities. Publican Robyn Hawkins from Taree's Wynter Tavern loaned the venue's courtesy bus to emergency services. "I've given the bus to SES volunteers to evacuate a nursing home, so they can take the elderly people to higher ground," she told AAP. "Everyone knows us here and we're still operating as normal - I'm trying to make some wraps so we can feed the SES." Taree might only be isolated for a day, but other parts of the state could be trapped for up to a week, SES Commissioner Mike Wassing said. "We've been engaging with these communities well prior to these floods arriving, we've had the evacuation orders out, and now today (are) very much our focus for the rescue operations," he said. More than 100 warnings were in place on Wednesday afternoon with 48,000 people isolated by floodwaters after falls of up to 280mm in some areas. "For those people waiting to be rescued, we know this takes time," Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib told reporters on Wednesday. "We are working on it. It is a priority and we ask you to be patient." The bulk of rescues were in Taree, Wingham and Glenthorne, including several cars caught driving into floodwater. Many people reported water rising into their homes, with some seeking refuge on their roofs, the SES said. Another 200mm to 300mm may fall in the next two days, hitting Coffs Coast and northern tablelands. Some northern catchments are already saturated after Cyclone Alfred in March. A stay-indoors message was issued for elevated inland parts of the mid-north coast, including Bowraville and the outskirts of Coffs Harbour.
