13 July 2016

November's mean rainfall in one Canberra day

| Charlotte
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rain

In the last 24 hours, 64.6mm of rain has fallen in the ACT. That’s around the same as the mean rainfall for the entire month of November, the wettest month of the year on average.

While there are patches of blue in the distance this morning, showers continue and are forecast for every day this week.

Most outdoor sporting fixtures were cancelled in Canberra over the weekend, but hockey players took to the puddle-strewn artificial pitches at Lyneham and Tuggeranong in spite of the deluge.

The ACT State Emergency Service received 182 calls for help over the weekend to midnight Sunday.

All six ACTSES volunteer units responded to jobs and were supported by ACT Fire & Rescue and Territory and Municipal Services Directorate teams.

There were 20 requests for assistance outstanding which crews were due to finish this morning.

A further 14 storm related electrical hazard jobs were logged over the weekend where power lines had come down or power had been cut to properties due to water damage.

Around 4.20pm yesterday, one gate of the Scrivener Dam was opened to release excess water from the Molonglo River. Drivers were warned the release could affect a number of low level crossings of the Molonglo River.

Several roads remain closed across the ACT today due to the wet weather, including Point Hut Crossing, the unsealed section of Boboyan Road (except for four wheel drive vehicles), Coppins Crossing, Angle Crossing, Sunshine Crossing and Oaks Estate Crossing.

Emergency services staff remind Canberrans to drive to current weather conditions, to take care when driving on unsealed roads and to stay well clear of flooded low level crossings, storm water drains, ponds, lakes and flooded cycleways.

Please call 132 500 for storm and flood assistance.

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dungfungus said :

pink little birdie said :

Just back from Broken Hill where the Menindee Lakes have all but dried up. Unheard of. I’m sure this brief exceptional rain, not really that much, will have been welcome by more than my parched garden.

Any chance of Lake George showing any surface moisture except on the far horizon?

The storms nicely demonstrated along with the concurrent Tsunami maps released by State Emergency services in NSW exactly what rising sea levels will do, and its vast cost:

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/people-freaked-out-after-the-nsw-ses-posted-tsunami-evacuation-maps-coinciding-with-a-major-storm-2016-6

Large swathes of Sydney and the Central Coast will go under. My brother will have lost all the neighbours in front of his house and will be living on the third island of six in a new North Sydney archipelago.

But Tim Flannery will still be high and dry…………………..

Bit we are still high and dry as far as overall annual rainfall which is falling and has been for decades. You confuse a very intermittent storm with overall rainfall.

Reminds me of the Sean and Patrick joke:

“Are the indicators working Patrick?”

“Yes Sean, No Sean, Yes, No, Yes, No…”

Mordd – IndyMedia said :

Late last year I spoke to scientists surveying the Northern Sydney Beaches to determine the ebbs and flows of the sand and shoreline and future prospective changes if rising sea levels eat away at the land.

I am wondering if they had their research funding taken away?

Their answers may well have made a few unhappy.

The current problems are due to weather conditions, not rising sea levels. It’s nothing to do with withdrawal of research funding.

pink little birdie said :

Just back from Broken Hill where the Menindee Lakes have all but dried up. Unheard of. I’m sure this brief exceptional rain, not really that much, will have been welcome by more than my parched garden.

Any chance of Lake George showing any surface moisture except on the far horizon?

The storms nicely demonstrated along with the concurrent Tsunami maps released by State Emergency services in NSW exactly what rising sea levels will do, and its vast cost:

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/people-freaked-out-after-the-nsw-ses-posted-tsunami-evacuation-maps-coinciding-with-a-major-storm-2016-6

Large swathes of Sydney and the Central Coast will go under. My brother will have lost all the neighbours in front of his house and will be living on the third island of six in a new North Sydney archipelago.

But Tim Flannery will still be high and dry…………………..

wsw said :

pink little birdie said :

Just back from Broken Hill where the Menindee Lakes have all but dried up. Unheard of. I’m sure this brief exceptional rain, not really that much, will have been welcome by more than my parched garden.

Any chance of Lake George showing any surface moisture except on the far horizon?

The storms nicely demonstrated along with the concurrent Tsunami maps released by State Emergency services in NSW exactly what rising sea levels will do, and its vast cost:

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/people-freaked-out-after-the-nsw-ses-posted-tsunami-evacuation-maps-coinciding-with-a-major-storm-2016-6

Large swathes of Sydney and the Central Coast will go under. My brother will have lost all the neighbours in front of his house and will be living on the third island of six in a new North Sydney archipelago.

Years ago during an open day at the ANU I saw an interesting flood map for Canberra should Googong Dam ever break. Where I was living in Narrabundah at the time would have been about 6 foot (yes, the measurements then were in old imperial, despite metric being used for years) under water. The Leagues Club (if I have that correct) in Queanbeyan would have been completely underwater. The National Library would have been flooded. I was told that during construction of the dam it was in danger of capsizing, which I was told was not publicised. Apparently the dam was at the critical time in construction and this time was chosen because it was statistically the driest day of the driest month. Anyway it poured and there was great concern the dam would not hold. Someone though to cover it with wire mesh to protect it and it held up. I was told this at the open day. It was very interesting, and there was a computer program where you could put in your address and see what the risk was from flooding. My house would have six inches in a 100 year flood across the garden, but Googong Dam was more worrying.

Narrabundah is floodplain, a single glance shows that.

The Sydney event is a 30 year event, so really there are no excuses. A 100 year maybe, but as the insurance actuaries can tell you 100s are the new 30s.

There were a number of reasons I got out of architecture but probably one of my last clients who built a mansion on inner Sydney foreshore, subverting and altering my plans at whim and I am sure doing the same to the Council, was one of the final straws.

They’ll raise the price of water as people won’t need to water their gardens as much.

The SMH has posted a story on the Collaroy storm damage:

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydney-storms-narrabeencollaroy-teetering-houses-an-accident-waiting-to-happen-20160606-gpcjq6.html#ixzz4AnBkyvEv

An excerpt which reinforces what I have said:

“Professor Short said the council bought properties along the beachfront and turned them into parklands in the 1970s and attempted to put a moratorium on redevelopment in the 1980s, but lost its case in court.

A Coastal Zone Management Plan, adopted by the council in 2014, made property owners responsible for protecting their property from the impacts of coastal processes.”

Late last year I spoke to scientists surveying the Northern Sydney Beaches to determine the ebbs and flows of the sand and shoreline and future prospective changes if rising sea levels eat away at the land.

I am wondering if they had their research funding taken away?

Their answers may well have made a few unhappy.

In Western Sydney where councils and developers conspired to develop flood prone areas as suburbs, despite clear and loud warnings, the tales of woe are being broadcast by the tabloid press.

How obtuse can you be to build at ground level right next to houses that were jacked up one storey after the last floods?

Will anybody learn anything from this? Can’t say I am hopeful. Not if there is a buck to made out of it.

A taste of what is to come.

See the news about what is happening in Collaroy.

Unfortunately the Councils, the developers and all those who bought with their blinkers on are all pretending nobody could foresee this.

Not true, and an object lesson in ignoring reality does not make it go away.

There is another King Tide coming tonight so this is not the end of it.

pink little birdie said :

Just back from Broken Hill where the Menindee Lakes have all but dried up. Unheard of. I’m sure this brief exceptional rain, not really that much, will have been welcome by more than my parched garden.

Any chance of Lake George showing any surface moisture except on the far horizon?

The storms nicely demonstrated along with the concurrent Tsunami maps released by State Emergency services in NSW exactly what rising sea levels will do, and its vast cost:

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/people-freaked-out-after-the-nsw-ses-posted-tsunami-evacuation-maps-coinciding-with-a-major-storm-2016-6

Large swathes of Sydney and the Central Coast will go under. My brother will have lost all the neighbours in front of his house and will be living on the third island of six in a new North Sydney archipelago.

Years ago during an open day at the ANU I saw an interesting flood map for Canberra should Googong Dam ever break. Where I was living in Narrabundah at the time would have been about 6 foot (yes, the measurements then were in old imperial, despite metric being used for years) under water. The Leagues Club (if I have that correct) in Queanbeyan would have been completely underwater. The National Library would have been flooded. I was told that during construction of the dam it was in danger of capsizing, which I was told was not publicised. Apparently the dam was at the critical time in construction and this time was chosen because it was statistically the driest day of the driest month. Anyway it poured and there was great concern the dam would not hold. Someone though to cover it with wire mesh to protect it and it held up. I was told this at the open day. It was very interesting, and there was a computer program where you could put in your address and see what the risk was from flooding. My house would have six inches in a 100 year flood across the garden, but Googong Dam was more worrying.

Just back from Broken Hill where the Menindee Lakes have all but dried up. Unheard of. I’m sure this brief exceptional rain, not really that much, will have been welcome by more than my parched garden.

Any chance of Lake George showing any surface moisture except on the far horizon?

The storms nicely demonstrated along with the concurrent Tsunami maps released by State Emergency services in NSW exactly what rising sea levels will do, and its vast cost:

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/people-freaked-out-after-the-nsw-ses-posted-tsunami-evacuation-maps-coinciding-with-a-major-storm-2016-6

Large swathes of Sydney and the Central Coast will go under. My brother will have lost all the neighbours in front of his house and will be living on the third island of six in a new North Sydney archipelago.

It’s not the end of the world. We’ve had three rainy days after eight or nine months of almost no rain at all. This is symptomatic of the break-up of an el Nino. We’ll really start to whinge if we go into a La Nina, almost non-stop cold, rainy weather for more than a year. There is a 50% chance of us going into a La Nina now, following the end of el Nino. Personally I hope we don’t. The last thing I want is another stolen summer with rain and cold weather, and I’m sure the shopkeepers at the beach resorts are hoping the same.

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