Massive Australian Floods Will Last Months, Cost Hundreds Of Millions In Cleanup Costs - SMH

[hatrack]

A HUGE body of water that has caused widespread flooding in south-western Queensland is on its way south and is expected to cause extensive flooding in NSW over the next two months. Meanwhile, the damage bill from wild weather in Melbourne at the weekend is expected to come to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Insurance Council of Australia was preparing for more than 40,000 claims as a result of thunderstorms in Victoria that caused significant hail damage. The council has declared the event a catastrophe, and the damage bill is expected to exceed $200 million. Emergency services received more than 5500 calls for assistance in Melbourne alone.

Wagga Wagga was also recovering from a deluge of more than 110 millimetres, which broke the town's record for the most rainfall in 24 hours. The NSW government has declared the town and the Central Darling Shire a disaster area following flash flooding.

The Bureau of Meteorology said water was slowly receding from the south-western Queensland towns of Roma and Charleville after serious flooding.

EDIT

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/water-issues/weekend-deluge-will-bring-months-of-floods-20100308-psv0.html

[msongs]

1. yes but they've got water at last. probably hard to be grateful tho nt

[OnlinePoker]

2. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country

Perth has received 0.2mm of rain since November.

http://www.watercorporation.com.au/R/rainfall.cfm

[depakid]

3. It's also going to literally add billions to the Australian economy

both short term in tourism dollars (the rural and outback areas are amazing after these sorts of rains) and longer term through agriculture and grazing.