BBC - "Inland Sea" Of Floodwater Moving South Through Victoria

[hatrack]

Watch the video at the link - it's amazing. Australia looks like the freaking Pantanal during wet season.

Parts of the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria are braced for the approach of a giant lake of floodwater 55 miles (90km) long, as Australia's severe flooding problems continue. Deputy PM Wayne Swan said the recent floods would rank as one of Australia's most costly natural disasters ever.

More than 30 people have been killed since flooding began last month.

In Queensland, which has witnessed the worst of the flooding, nine people are still missing. Floods tore through the towns of Toowomba and Grantham.

But record rains have shifted the flood emergency focus from the north-eastern state to Victoria in the south-east, which is experiencing its worst floods since records began 130 years ago. The Victoria State Emergency Service (SES) has issued evacuation warnings for communities east of the city of Kerang, which remains cut off.

EDIT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12260724

[kestrel91316]

1. Aus is really flattish. Perhaps constructing swales on a massive scale

Would help replenish their depleted groundwater and prevent this sort of flooding in the future.

[jwirr]

2. Thank you. My grandson is going to visit Australia - Brisbane - in

March and we are watching this.

[tblue37]

3. Remember the US floods of 1993, when satellite pictures showed that

the flood plains of the Mississippi River had been turned into a shallow inland sea? Here are some images from that flood. They are amazing--and quite similar to what is happening in Australia. These "100-year" and "500-year" floods are going to be a common occurrence now because of global warming.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQgCHI9ul-9NDCjLkuXA6gxrPqAVSAci8_vBN-Znn14_IfLLS7z

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4c3oxnG0mxHJ7Op5Itdg4omtOOaxgbaJeQfR2Ith-kAoeyLMqwFsL3yQb6g

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSET6-HJx6Q_o7-dV6j9owilAOKaBWKQLyfv00HvfpunlJBDbdk

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRKLvxMI_LdnhWEzaaUuljjOj7w2OuIIXwgHH4IyJyIXCu0yc1q

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRo28ekanjA5Sb5gD1zWp3tLg25gJlvjyJO5P7JVr48C1uGK0mO

A whole page full of images (Google):

http://www.google.com/images?q=1993+%2B+Mississippi+%2B+flood&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1003&bih=568