Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

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BobH
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Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by BobH »

BBC News reports massive flooding in NSW and Queensland affecting Sydney and other areas badly. Ten of the 25 million Australians are affected.
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GeoffW
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by GeoffW »

All ok down my way.

But we've had years of drought over much of the country, then devastating bushfires, Covid, and now floods.

And now - spiders and snakes. It's almost biblical.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_6059 ... c2a2a97957

I'm near Canberra - the worst affected areas are in Sydney's west and northern NSW.

Thanks for your concern!

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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

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HansV
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by HansV »

I hope that all our Australian members and visitors are safe.

At least you have the pandemic more or less under control...
Best wishes,
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LisaGreen
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by LisaGreen »

Adding my hopes for being okay as well.

Take care y'all.

Lisa

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RonH
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by RonH »

Nice of you, Bob, to think of our Aussie friends. I don't live there now but my daughter in Queensland said there is a lot of flooding around her area ... she is OK fortunately, living a bit up from the local creek.

My thoughts go to all those affected by these severe weather conditions.
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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by ChrisGreaves »

BBC News reports massive flooding in NSW and Queensland affecting Sydney and other areas badly. Ten of the 25 million Australians are affected.
I too am thinking of my email correspondents in Australia, not only forum members here and on other forums.

At the same time I would caution readers to be careful when interpreting news.
"It also said that some 10 million people across every state and territory except Western Australia were now under a weather warning."

This time last year, folks in BonaVista were shaking their heads after reading a news headline that read (and here I paraphrase) "Fires are burning right across Australia"). I dissected this statement in "The Press.pdf" (attached).

The BBC statement about flooding can lead some people to believe that all of Australia is now a vast lake except for dear old WA.

While it is true that a large flood plain west of Sydney Harbour (and many other large flood plains) are now under water, by no stretch of the imagination is NSW, or Victoria, or Queensland, under water. And South Australia? Hah hah!
Assuming a very liberal interpretation of "flooding" or even "under water", I would be pleased to stand corrected with real numeric data on the following statement "Less that one percent of the habitable area of any state in Australia is flooded/under water".

It is true that downstream from the Warramgamba dam lie some heavily populated areas of western Sydney, and that a high percentage of homes/families in the floor plain are now refugees; and yes, my heart goes out to them. I might LIVE in Bonavista but my heart is in Australia.

Back to my point: Newspapers sell fear and alarum; Politicians sell both of those AND a solution "MY government will save you".
Untitled.png
The image above is the worst I could harvest from Ventusky, and is 3-hour preciptation as at 6:30am my time last Monday (yesterday). A significant area of Australia is receiving rainfall, but much of it is sweeping across what can be considered desert country. Yes, there are people there, but Australia is not like Europe or the USA.
Untitled2.png
For those of you familiar with the USA you might care to mentally paint that rainfall over the USA and list off the major cities that would be affected between North Dakota and South Carolina. Europeans will have to invent their own 3,000,000 square mile region of Europe.

I am sympathetic to the plight of people anywhere who are flooded/burnt/droughted out. But am growing increasingly concerned with the perceived nature of the press to spread panic and alarm.
Cheers
Chris
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LisaGreen
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by LisaGreen »

Agree Chris.

Lisa

GeoffW
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by GeoffW »

HansV wrote:
23 Mar 2021, 11:12
I hope that all our Australian members and visitors are safe.

At least you have the pandemic more or less under control...
We have done well with the pandemic, despite some stumbles along the way.

But, as with all other countries, the economic fallout has been huge.

The combination of events will (and already has) affect some people hugely.

Most people will not be affected in a big way. Nobody lost their houses in the city I live; floods and the pandemic were minor inconveniences.

But there were people elsewhere who lost their lives or their possessions. Millions of people in the neighbouring state of Victoria were locked down for quite some time. Smoke from the fires caused major health problems for people far away from the fires, including many deaths not attributed to the fires. A lady I knew was probably one of them. For some, the triple whammy will be a knockout blow. My heart goes out to them.

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Rudi
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Re: Hope Our Friends in Oz are Safe

Post by Rudi »

TX for your feedback Geoff. Glad to hear you are OK.
Trust that the news is good for others in that area too.
Regards,
Rudi

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