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I think that we are experiencing a little of the calm before the storm...
Torrential rain over the past weekend has caused many of the rivers and creeks across our state... which have been dry beds or... consisted of a series of disconnected stagnant ponds as a result of drought are now ....almost overnight... bursting at their banks and going into flood mode...
There is more rain predicted to come over the next several days and the catchments are already filling to overflowing so that now the rise in river levels is starting to threatening houses in towns and cities along the rivers.
Not to mention the inundation of farming properties and their families growing sheep cattle and grain crops.
There have been over to 200 evacuations so far with more towns in the danger zone.
I took the Empress for a drive to witness the river levels, which have'nt been as high in the area since 1956
Torrential rain over the past weekend has caused many of the rivers and creeks across our state... which have been dry beds or... consisted of a series of disconnected stagnant ponds as a result of drought are now ....almost overnight... bursting at their banks and going into flood mode...
Not to mention the inundation of farming properties and their families growing sheep cattle and grain crops.
There have been over to 200 evacuations so far with more towns in the danger zone.
I took the Empress for a drive to witness the river levels, which have'nt been as high in the area since 1956
We were here the day after the worst of the rain...
And the water level had dropped by about 8 feet from the previous day
This is the railway bridge over the Loddon River
The artwork that you can see on the pylon is a tile mosaic made by local school children depicting local wild life and containing photos of the last major flood in the area in 1956... unfortunately I wasn't climbing through the mud to get a closer shot... but the day prior to this photo the water level had been so high that the tiles could not be seen...
These are some arial shots of the floodwaters...
The rivers are still reaching their peaks and there is more rain on the way...
"The Palais" remains High and Dry in comparison
And in the middle of this
We are also being warned that we can now look forward to plague Locusts in late spring.
Let me sum it up for you...
Bushfires... Mouse plagues... Floods... Locust plagues...
I think all first born sons should be getting worried!
some days, sugar, it's impossible not to feel like chicken little and start running for cover! stay safe and DRY! xoxoxoxo
ReplyDeleteNow would be a good time to let those Hebrews go!
ReplyDeleteGreat shot of the tile artwork and bridge! I hope the waters will at least help nourish the wildlife and remove some of those drought restrictions. I also hope that you and the Empress are safe and dry during this monsoon.
Hi Savannah
ReplyDeleteWe are fine at the moment. The Palais is built on the side of a sloping block so when we get heavy rains the water just flows off down the hill creating a temporary water feature at the bottom of the garden.
It is such a relief to have rains again and the water restrictions will hopefully be lifted completely soon.
It is just that with us having drought for so long ...people forget what happens when it does rain...
Hi Eros
It is great to have rains again.
Everyone is feeling much better dispite the wet carpets and blocked roads, power outages. It is great to see the dams full and Aus in no foreigner to big floods
We just have short memories as to what happens when floods occur.
We have a whole generation of kids that have grown up knowing nothing but drought so this is all pretty new.
The tile wall is fantastic and i will post a closeup shot of it when the weather settles.
Each of my neices made a tile in their art class at school to contribute to the community artwork. They were very proud when showing the Empress and I the finished product...
The countryside and wildlife will flourish after an episode like this and it's great for the rivers to be flushed of debris after so many dry years. The Murray Darling river system is the largest in Aus and all this water will eventually make it into the Murray system and flow on down to the mouth and into the sea. The mouth of the river forms into large lakes that are currently dying from increased salinity and long term lack of fresh water flows from up stream...This should help to flush it out a little and we have yet to add the snow melt which this year have been the best falls for 20yrs..
I hope the rain is in at least the right places to recharge your water tables and reservoirs.
ReplyDeleteBe safe.
We have two seasons here: drought and flash flood. Today we are having rain from the remnants of a hurricane from the Gulf of Mexico. We need the rain.
Hi XL
ReplyDeleteOur nearest Major catchment has gone from 3% full to 60% full in the last 2 weeks which is great news. It had dwindled to puddle size and being a great tourist lake with yatching, canoeing and Speed Boating and fishing being the main attractions.
The drought stopped all this and camping parks boating businesses
Sailing clubs and speedboat clubs all closed down without water.
They are holding their first speed boat races there this weekend in 10 years and the lake continues to fill. Hopefully with the next lot of rain it too will reach the spillway and flow over.
I had photos if this happening from thirteen years ago. It would be great to update the pics...
Dear Princess, stay safe. What a year! Russia is burning down, other parts of the world drown, we had one of the weddest summers in decennia here, and it's still flooding in the East of germany and Poland - of course not comparable to what happens in Australia or Pakistan, but there is expensive damage.
ReplyDeleteDo you have Pharaohs living at the bottom of your garden? That would explain the plague of locusts. Go and tell them to bugger off. But it is a worry, isn't it? We were flooded in 2007, for three months Carmen and I lived in a caravan in the back garden just like a couple of raggle taggle gypsy hoes.
ReplyDeleteDear Mago
ReplyDeletefunnily enough here in Australia we are all extremely happy about the floods after drought for so long, the farmers are finally smiling, some children have never seen the rivers flowing let alone having water in them. The water catchments are all filling and the water restrictions will be eased very soon...Although Dame Nature has gotten a little out of control in all parts of the world lately...
I don't think that these natural disasters are happening any more frequently but because we live in a world of instant information we just hear about it more quickly...
I hope that you are well...
Dear Mitzi
Locusts are a worry... big time... as the farmers were all counting on bumper crops following such a good start to the season after years of drought...
And now they have announced that we will have to watch out for diseased mosquitos due to all the stagnant water that will be laying about for a while now..
I might just check that there's not a dead Pharoh buried in the bottom of the garden and if there is he will be rather soggy by now I would think...