- by Anna Pha
- The Guardian
- Issue #2137
The three tropical cyclones in the Eastern Australian and South Pacific basins on 25 February 2025. Photo: NASA’s VIIRS Satellite (CC BY 4.0)
When category 2 cyclone Alfred was downgraded to a tropical low there was no room for complacency. Flooding, strong and destructive winds, and power outages continued.
More than 200,000 people were left without power for days. Evacuation centres were filled to overflowing. Trees were uprooted, homes and businesses were flooded, some were left uninhabitable due to strong, destructive winds and flooding taking their toll. The water in streets flowed like rivers, and low-lying land was covered in water.
The emergency services workers and Australian Defence Force personnel that risked their lives to assist thousands of people seeking help are to be commended.
Thousands still need help, having lost their homes and possessions. The government assistance of the JobSeeker rate for 13 weeks is hardly sufficient.
Alfred hit from south-east Queensland through to the north-east of NSW and gradually moved inland. This tropical event descended far south of the tropics.
Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more severe. They cannot be described as natural events. They are unnatural events resulting from the actions of humans burning of fossil fuels.
One of the most dangerous aspects of a cyclone is when a storm pushes the ocean water over land. This is referred to as a storm surge. Sea levels have already risen 20cm due to climate change, resulting in far more dangerous storm surges which occur from a greater height.
The toll on crops is still to be counted, but one thing is certain – there will be shortages and higher prices. To what extent the fertile land remains fit for crops is another question.
IMPACT ON HEALTH
Apart from such obvious impacts as falls and injuries from flying objects and uprooted trees, chronic diseases such as diabetes or renal disease can be impacted due to lack of access to health-care services, medications, and hospitals.
The federal Department of Health and Aged Care warns that floods and cyclones can leave behind many health risks, including:
- bacterial infections
- loss of medications
- mould
- contaminated floodwater
- injuries
- animal bites from displaced animals
- mosquito-borne illnesses
- carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.
Respiratory problems can result from mould and damp housing in the aftermath of floods. In some areas residents were warned that their drinking water was unsafe, and that they should boil their water.
In the south of Brisbane sewage flowed through the streets, as one of the city’s two main wastewater pipes was being repaired.
Mental health is another concern, especially if there have been repeated natural disasters. The more you’re exposed to floodwaters in your home or business, the worse the mental health impacts are likely to be. Post-traumatic stress disorder is another health impact.
Repeated natural disasters could compound these mental health consequences. Southeast Queensland and the Northern Rivers in NSW have experienced multiple disasters over recent years.
The University Centre for Rural Health Northern Rivers After the Flood study examined mental health and wellbeing outcomes six months after the 2017 flood in the Northern Rivers. People who had floodwater in their home, yard or business, or who were displaced from their home for more than six months, were found to have probable post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression, compared to those who didn’t experience flooding or weren’t displaced.
State and federal governments should be providing free counselling and other services in the months and years following floods.
INSURANCE
Residents in flood-prone areas such as Lismore and the tropics in Queensland pay huge premiums or do not insure their homes and businesses because of the astronomic premiums insurance companies charge. Even then, it does not mean these parasites will not stall on paying out claims or use fine print to find excuses not to honour their promises.
Governments urging them to pay up quickly are unlikely to have much of an impact. The only way forward is a not-for-profit, public insurance company with universal coverage. The private sector has failed dismally to offer protection.
POLICY
Governments are simply not prepared. Development is driven by greedy developers, not by governments in the interests of people and the environment. Science-based planning is sadly lacking.
Houses are not built to stand up to cyclones on the Sunshine Coast, in Brisbane and further south, especially those not usually associated with cyclones and flooding. No thought is given to providing ongoing shelter for those left homeless following cyclones and other extreme weather events. NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns cruelly decided to shut shelters before ensuring everyone had somewhere to go.
The biggest failure of governments – state and federal – is to continue to approve the expansion of existing and new fossil fuel projects. Coalition leader Peter Dutton’s promotion of gas as the way forward for the next 20 or more years while nuclear reactors are built is nothing short of a smokescreen to cover up inaction on climate change.
State and federal governments have a responsibility for the well-being of those affected by the floods and other extreme weather events. Developers with governments in their pockets, and the authorities who approved the building of towns on flood plains should be held accountable.
Planning is required along with engineering- and science-based adaptation and mitigation to cope with extreme weather events.
We live in “grey cities” with their sealed surfaces, dams, and concrete levees. This is one of the factors that results in such destructive and extensive floods. The water has nowhere to go.
There are alternative means to deal with cyclones and extensive rainfall. China, for example, is developing “sponge cities” as a means to prevent flooding, promote biodiversity, and cut emissions. They are a nature-based development of urban areas with abundant natural areas such as trees, lakes, artificial wetlands, and parks, along with permeable surfaces where the water falls through to urban drainage systems and is kept.
They not only allow for the absorption of water during high downfalls of rain but its release in times of drought.
WATER CYCLE
Climate change is affecting our water cycle, which refers to the way water moves about our planet
Generally speaking, wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier.
Think of heating water in a pan: as it warms, it starts to bubble (more energy) and steam (more moisture in the air).
More moisture can then mean that more rainfall comes in short, intense downpours. This can increase the risk of flash flooding.
Extra heat in the atmosphere means there’s more energy for weather systems that generate intense rainfall.
Thus we are experiencing more of our rain in the form of intense downpours, leading to a greater risk of floods.
Climate change has made our oceans hotter which is driving more ferocious and destructive cyclones.
Cyclone Alfred tracked further south than cyclones usually do in Australia.
Increasingly, we see that communities are being hit with one disaster after another, such as drought followed by fires followed by floods. The compounding effect of these disasters is taking a heavy toll.
