Australia weather: Floods, storms and heatwave warnings in place as monsoon and possible cyclone looms
Anthony Albanese says science predicted more extreme and intense weather from climate change as Victoria remains on flood watch and WA prepares for a heatwave.
Anthony Albanese says more extreme and intense weather events are “not surprising”, as Victoria remains on flood watch and WA prepares for a scorching heatwave.
The Prime Minister, speaking from Cairns on Wednesday morning, said it’s been shocking to see the damage flooding has caused to Cairns, Port Douglas and Wujal Wujal.
“What we want to do is to make sure that that community can be up and running, people can get back to their homes as soon as possible,” Mr Albanese told ABC News Breakfast.
The Prime Minister will travel to Victoria on Wednesday to determine what support the federal government can provide.
“I’ll be going to the state emergency headquarters with Acting Premier Ben Carroll later this afternoon to talk about what further support we can give and to receive an appropriate briefing,” he said.
“We know that the weather events are more extreme, more intense, and more often. And it’s not surprising, unfortunately, given that’s what the science predicted from climate change.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who is also in Cairns, said the government would do what it can afford to do to help flood-stricken communities in Queensland recover.
“This is a wonderful community. And it is an important part of the national economy,” Dr Chalmers said.
“We share the frustration that the locals feel about the increasing regularity of these natural disasters and having to rebuild infrastructure each time ... This is why we are putting so much effort into mitigation.”
While emergency alerts in Victoria were downgraded overnight, moderate flood warnings remain for the Campaspe, Goulburn and La Trobe rivers.
The Goulburn River from Seymour to Murchison is forecasted to peak at about 10.50m on Wednesday morning, then from Murchison to Shepparton, water levels may reach 10.70m on Thursday.
SES chief officer Tim Wiebusch said riverine flooding is still an “active consideration” across northern Victoria and Gippsland despite an easing trend in flash flooding.
“We are still expecting to see minor to moderate flood impacts across a number of areas in the state in the coming days,” he said on Tuesday afternoon.
Mr Wiebusch advised communities in Seymour, Murchison and Shepparton to be on alert for road closures and potential overland flooding.
“In and around the Shepparton area we could see up to 20 properties that may see above for flooding as a result of that moderate high flooding on the Goulburn River.
“A further 150 properties could potentially save flooding in their streets and on to their properties.
“Make sure you have up to three days supplies so that you can, if you do become isolated, work through that period.”
In Queensland, the Bureau of Meteorology have issued moderate flood warnings for the Dawson, Paroo, Bulloo and Barcoo rivers.
Storms hit the waters off the coast of southern Brisbane and the Gold Coast overnight, before making their way onshore far east of Brisbane and in the eastern parts of the Gold Coast
The Bureau’s senior meteorologist Angus Hines said storms brought moderate rainfall totals, with some places picking up 25mm of rain within an hour.
“We’ve got a broad thunderstorm risk across much of central and northern Queensland as well as the southeast,” he told The Australian.
Claraville had the highest rainfall total with 136mm overnight, followed by Wondoola with 118mm, then Allambee with 87mm.
He said the wet weather is caused by an ongoing influx of warm, moist air.
“So we’ve got the warm humid air which is coming from the Coral Sea and the humidity really provides the fuel to get thunderstorms going ,” Mr Hines said.
“And you just sort of need something to set them off and once they start, they really ramp up and rumble away fairly hard and bring heavy rainfall.”
In contrast to the floods and storms, Western Australia is set for a hot rest of the week with a number of heatwave warnings blanketing the state.
An extreme heatwave warning has been issued for the Goldfields, Eucla and South Interior Districts and a severe warning in place for the Kimberley, Pilbara, Gascoyne, North Interior and Central Wheat Belt Districts.
#WA is in for a hot week, with #heatwave warnings in place across most of the state. Many places will see temps in the upper 30s or low 40s for several days in a row. High & Extreme Fire Danger Ratings are in place. Latest: https://t.co/4W35o8i7wJ or the BOM Weather app. pic.twitter.com/wUCHOkjPg4
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) January 9, 2024
Marble Bar in the Pilbara region is forecast to experience a top of 47 degrees on Wednesday.
“We’ll see that heat spread into parts of South Australia from today onwards and some of that warmth will get across to southeastern parts as well,” Mr Hines said.
The senior meteorologist said a fairly warm day is anticipated around Victoria, Tasmania, parts of New South Wales and around Adelaide on Friday.
A monsoon is also expected to arrive at the top of the country around the northern parts of WA, NT and Queensland later in the week or early next week.
From Saturday, there is a moderate risk, or 25 per cent chance, of tropical cyclone development in the western top end of the NT.
“There’s still a fairly decent chance that we won’t have the development occur, but it’s much higher than that baseline chance of not happening at all,” Mr Hines said.
He said the monsoon is likely to bring an increase in wet and stormy weather.
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