Freak Storm Floods Queensland - Once-In-A-Century Event, Say Scientists - AFP

[hatrack]

Emergency workers were cleaning up parts of northeastern Australian on Sunday after widespread flooding caused by what meteorologists said was a freak, once-in-a-century weather event. Dozens of people were evacuated from homes and cars and many roads closed because of rising flood waters and fallen trees after the Sunshine Coast was lashed with days of torrential rain, officials said.

Emergency Management Queensland regional director Peter Twomey said the floods were now receding and the damage was believed to be minimal because of the use of thousands of sandbags to hold back the water. "Major flooding has affected residents in the Noosa River, Lake Cooroibah and Lake Cootharaba area and even though we are confident the worst is now past us, it may take several days for waters to return to normal levels," he said.

The dumping of more than 1,000 millimetres (40 inches) of rain on the Sunshine Coast has been attributed to a once-in-a-century weather event. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jeff Callaghan said the low pressure system over southeast Queensland that caused the downpour was a freak event not seen at this time of year since the 1800s.

"They are very rare in August and the last one we can find was probably in the 1880s," Callaghan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070826033224.f8bxpe5k.html

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. We seem to be getting a whole bunch of these once in a century event. nt

[hatrack]

2. Yes, and they all seem to be happening . . . . what's the phrase? I just can't . . .

Oh, yeah! "Faster than expected" - that's the phrase!

[kmeister]

3. Faster than expected?

Are you implying that someone believes he or she can anticipate weather patterns?

[phantom power]

4. It's a running "joke" here -- "faster than expected" is a phrase we read a lot of in E/E

The ice-caps are disappearing faster than expected.
Oil is depleting faster than expected.
Agricultural productivity is decreasing faster than expected.

Welcome to DU! Spend some time on this forum -- I'm sure you will develop a vague sense of horror and fear of the future. Faster than you expected :evilgrin:

[kmeister]

6. Thanks for the welcome.

I don't understand your pessimism. I recently saw a video released by the government (I believe) of a small fishing town in Alaska that tells of how their local Glacier is growing and threatening to close off the Fjord and destroy the salmon industry.
Didn't they just find vast amounts of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, Colorado, and the arctic?
Has not science been developing more productive plants?

[GliderGuider]

7. That should have been followed by a

:sarcasm: smiley, right?

Just checking.

[kmeister]

8. No

All true.
Im not computer literate enough to express my humorous side yet.

[GliderGuider]

9. Oh dear.

It's not just computers in which you're not literate enough yet, then.

But don't let my pugnacious attitude deter you. Stick around and read for a while. This board is one of the most broadly educating places on the net for environmental, ecological and energy issues.

[skids]

10. Come back when gas hits $5.00 and tell us how optimistic you are. n/t

[kmeister]

11. But it has

In Europe gas has surpassed $5,00 a gallon.
If you compare todays gas prices in the US, with the high prices about 27 years ago, then adjust for inflation then gas is cheap.

[skids]

12. Are you in Europe? n/t

[kmeister]

13. No but you can talk to people there on the phone and the internet. Theyll tell ya.

[skids]

14. I meant here, then. n/t

[kmeister]

15. So your saying. our Government is about to raise the price of gas to $5.00 a gallon.

[skids]

16. Our government has no choice in the matter...

...it will get there on its own over time.

[kmeister]

17. Why?

We have low inflation. Plenty of oil, and the market will not tolerate it.

[skids]

18. Inflation varies depending on who you are.

If you are rich and buy things like yachts, inflation is at 3-4% like the CPI says.

If you mainly buy groceries, gasoline, health care, and rent a roof over your head, inflation is at 6-10% annually right now.

I didn't get an 6% raise last year, did you?

http://www.shadowstats.com/

[kmeister]

19. Not exactly.

But so far this year I have given myself a 400% raise.
Last year was a bad year, mostly due to my stupidity.

[fed-up]

21. what line of work are you in that is doing so well? trolling? nt

[kmeister]

25. real estate investing

[NMDemDist2]

29. RE investing?

wow

be sure to come on by the Economy forum too

and welcome to DU

:hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=114

[kmeister]

44. Thanks.

When I have time I shall.
see ya there.

[kestrel91316]

36. Oohh, methinks it's a SLUMLORD or other sort of bottomfeeder!

[kmeister]

45. My latest project,

Appraised at $477,800.00.
Would love to show you some pics but don't know how.

[GliderGuider]

46. .

Self-delete

[GliderGuider]

47. You don't know how to show us pics

but you do know how to disable your profile?

Right. Whatever you say. You're the kmeister.

[GliderGuider]

48. .

.

[kmeister]

51. Thats,

about it. give me a few minutes and I will try to write a bit of my profile and enable it.
If you promise not to imply that Im a lier.

[GliderGuider]

52. Thanks, that's a start.

"I am not you, nor am I them." I like it.

So tell us why you're here. Are you here to learn, teach or kibitz?

[kmeister]

54. All, I enjoy life, People are life.

The beauty of the internet is that it allows discourse at a distance.

[NickB79]

23. Plenty of oil?

Oh my, you really are new to E/E to make such a statement.

[kmeister]

26. Yes plenty of oil.

I remember back in the 60s they were saying that we were going to run out of oil in 20 years.
We haven't.
I have read many articles on the internet about vast amounts of oil being found.

[NickB79]

34. Peak Oil 101: It's not about "running out of oil"

It's about running out of CHEAP oil; ie when demand exceeds supply. As I pointed out in a previous post, those "vast" amounts of conventional oil are small potatoes when put into world oil demand perspective. The US alone uses 7 BILLION barrels of oil a year. The last remaining truly vast amounts of oil are held in oil shales and tar sands, both of which can't be extracted/refined fast enough or cheaply enough to make up for the declines in the major oil fields operating today.

[depakid]

27. Well, there's CPI- and then there's REAL inflation

Which- manipulated stats aside, doesn't include asset inflation and purchasing price parity vis a vis other currencies.

Inflation has little to do with world oil supplies- but of course, the reverse is far from true- as Americans will soon find out the hard way....

btw: petrol prices in Britain are hovering at around £1.00 per litre.

That's about $7.60 per gallon!

It'll be curious to see just which and how many activities and businesses become uneconomic in the states at that price.

[phantom power]

22. It took me several years at E/E to develop my soul-crushing pessimism...

But if you want the Clif Notes, start here:

http://www.paulchefurka.ca/

[NickB79]

24. Actually, no they haven't found vast amounts of oil in the Gulf, Colorado or Arctic

The "vast" find in the Gulf you're probably thinking of is the Jack 2 field, which is in extremely deep waters, in an area that is susceptible to hurricanes, and has questionable quantities of oil. Jack's reserves are estimated between 3-15 billion barrels; to put this in perspective the US uses over 7 billion barrels per year.

The Colorado oil you mentioned is probably the oil shales, which, like the Canadian tar sands, are extremely hard to extract profitably, and are very destructive to the environment. Plus, oil shale production requires large quantities of water, but the western US is currently in a prolonged drought.

The most often quoted oil field in the Arctic, ANWR, is also far from being a vast field, having between 6 months to 1 year's worth of US oil consumption in it.

"I recently saw a video released by the government (I believe) of a small fishing town in Alaska that tells of how their local Glacier is growing and threatening to close off the Fjord and destroy the salmon industry."

Just out of curiosity, can you remember the name of this video? I'd like to watch it if I could find it. Thanks.

[kestrel91316]

35. Can I have some of what you've been smoking?? Pretty please?

[kmeister]

39. No you can't, but,

If you ask just as nicely I will share the secret to the Universe.

[kestrel91316]

37. Name the video, name the producer, name the town, name the glacier,

or stop claiming this.

I'm calling BS. You heard this on Limpballs, right??

[kmeister]

38. You do not seem,

to be open minded or curious.

What is Limpballs?

I shall provide you with a link to the video upon my return from vacation. I did not save it and must wait for a reply from a friend who lives there.
Meanwhile the name of the village is Yakutat Alaska.
I would be greatly impressed if you were to find the video with your Internet computin skills.

Are we having fun yet?

[GliderGuider]

5. I've stopped using the terms "Global Warming", "Climate Change" or even "Global Heating"

I'm now using only the term "Climate Chaos". I believe it expresses the situation we're in far better than any term that implies a monotonic function.

Estamos jodidos.

Paul Chefurka

[phantom power]

20. I can think of other words. But not ones I could use with heads of state.

[depakid]

28. After reading Peter Ward's book, I'm thinking in terms of "perturbations"

and they're not pleasant thoughts- particularly for Gen Y and beyond....

[mikita]

30. Climate Chaos

So much more appropriate.

As serious as this thread is, I had to laugh at your last line. We are trying to learn Spanish (with aging brains), but the first thing we made sure we knew how to say was:

Estamos tan jodidos.

Mikita

[hatrack]

31. I've been pimping "Climate Breakdown" & "Climate Destabilization" for a few years now

No signs yet, though, that my subterrenean viral meme campaign is catching on.

Darn!

[GliderGuider]

32. Too many syllables perhaps?

As far as I can tell, a good meme needs to have a short, memorable name. I think it helps if it appeals to the "functionally alliterate (sic)", too.

[kmeister]

41. How about,

"Natural Historic Climatological Variations"?
Maybe not. what use is History?

[GliderGuider]

42. How about

Spending some quality time with people who know what they're talking about?

http://www.realclimate.org

Try it, you might like it.

[kmeister]

53. Sure,

A bit about myself.
I am an introvert, I am 52 years old, I have read well over a thousand books on every subject. To list a few.
My first book, The Army Medical Manual 1952 edition,
My second book, "The Environmental Handbook" cant recall the year of publication, but I believe it was 1967 when I read it.
My third book, "The Secret Life of Plants".
Fourth "The Hobbit" then "Lord of The Rings".
Then in the 70s I really started reading.

[GliderGuider]

56. "well over a thousand"!

Now I'm impressed - that's certainly more than W's read.
Which one made the deepest impression on you?

[kmeister]

59. Now you ask a very difficult question.

It could be "Eat This" by Dom Deluise.
His Moma's Lasagna recipe is killer.

[Javaman]

33. Seems as if the centuries are getting shorter and shorter these days. nt

[kmeister]

40. Are you saying,

you are centuries Old?
If so, might you remember about 600 years ago how hot it was when the Vikings were growing crops on Greenland?

[GliderGuider]

43. While we're on the subject of age,

Why would a noob with 15 posts disable their profile?

Don't you want us to get to know you? Don't you like us? Aren't you planning on sticking around?

[kmeister]

49. Because,

I have not had the time to write my profile yet.
I like everybody, disliking people is no fun.
I never plan on sticking around, sometimes I do sometimes I don't.
Depends on how you like my stories about my life experiences.

[GliderGuider]

50. You're not making a very good first impression.

[kmeister]

55. Neither are you.

You will have to pick a fight with someone else.

[GliderGuider]

57. It took me more than a week

to start telling people they didn't know what they were talking about. You had plenty of hints today that people weren't responding well to your approach.

[kmeister]

58. I am not eloquent of speach,

And I cant type worth a dam.

[Javaman]

60. I just love the "I know you are but what am I" tangent threads LOL. nt