After a decade of drought (with rain appearing only for my return trips) Australia finally has water again – lots of it. Over the past few months large areas of Queensland have been under water. According to one local blogger, the submerged area is greater than France and Germany combined. In 12 hours of January 13, enough water passed through the suburbs of Brisbane to fill Sydney Harbour.
Much of the world will jump at the chance to call this proof of global warming. That may have had an impact, but the floods are based in a known weather pattern called the Southern Oscillation Index which comes in cycles of wet and dry. Australian climate oscillates between droughts and floods and we bear it all stoically.
I love the attitude of my countrymen when it comes to such disasters. We may complain about a string of wet days, but when things get tough we set about dealing with the problem and joke about it at the same time. When water is low, we cut back on showers and watering gardens. When the fires come, we defend our homes as long as we can, deflating the tension with the unique Aussie humour. Even natural enemies work together in times of serious trouble. So too with floods. Though sometimes we take it too far – four men took the opportunity presented by a flash flood to go rafting down a swollen river in a kiddie pool. To our discredit, it also seems that some Australians take such disasters as a chance to loot the evacuated houses.
