Flooding in Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia. Rising waters prompted one government officials to call it 'a disaster of biblical proportions.' (Flickr / Michael Jefferies) Click the image for more photos of the Australian flooding on Examiner.com.
Residents of Australia’s state of Queensland are facing an extraordinary deluge following record-setting rain. In recent weeks an unusually heavy rainy season coupled with Tropical Storm Tasha has affected an area of land bigger than France and Germany combined.
Queensland’s state treasurer Andrew Fraser told media last week, “It is a disaster of biblical proportions.”
NASA satellite measurements of the rainfall indicated from 10 to 16 inches of rain fell within a week. Many rivers have overrun their banks including the Fitzroy River which is sending water into the city of Rockhampton.
Disaster declarations have been made for an area encompassing 366,000 square miles and 41 of Queensland’s 73 municipalities. An estimated 200,000 residents are affected by the floods and tens of thousands have been evacuated.
Government officials said 22 towns were either entirely flooded or isolated by flood waters. At least 10 deaths have been attributed to the flooding and rivers have yet to crest.
Flooding in Pakistan is easily seen in this satellite image released by NASA. See larger images below. (NASA)
While Colorado has witnessed some pretty good rain showers in recent days due to the monsoon season, it is nothing compared to what Pakistan is experiencing. Seemingly endless monsoonal rains have flooded hundreds of thousands of acres in Pakistan that were easily spotted by NASA satellites.
The floods, said to be the worst in the nation since 1929, have claimed more than 1,500 lives and affected 3.2 million people. Entire villages have been submerged by the water that continues to rise across large swaths of the nation.
The images taken by NASA on July 31st show the Indus River in northwestern Pakistan clearly overflowing. The difference between the image taken this year versus one taken on August 1, 2009 provide a stark contrast that demonstrates how much worse this season is.
The inside of the Opryland Hotel is flooded on Monday, May 3, 2010. See video of the flooding inside the hotel below. (The Tennessean)
With its 1,500 guests evacuated, managers and employees of the Opryland Hotel in Nashville spent Monday watching the water inside the historic hotel rise to 10 feet above floor level. Images taken in the hotel and of the surrounding area show a facility likely to face major repairs once the floodwaters recede.
As the Cumberland River rose hotel officials initially evacuated guests to a ballroom on Sunday. Once the seriousness of the situation became apparent, all 1,500 were sent to other area hotels and many to a local high school.
Video shot by the Tennessean Monday morning shows the hotel’s courtyard under water. Chairs and other debris are floating in the water while tables in water not quite as deep still have their table clothes and silverware on them.
Other famous Music City attractions have been impacted including the Country Music Hall of Fame which has water in a mechanical room and Schermerhorn Symphony Center whose basement is flooded with several feet of water.
Sports facilities in the city have been impacted by the flooding as well. LP Field, home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans now has its entire field surface under water. Users on Twitter are reported that Bridgestone Arena where the NHL’s Nashville Predator’s play has flooding.
More than a third of the contiguous United States has an above average flood risk currently. (NOAA) Click on the image for photos from the flood preparations in North Dakota and Minnesota.
With the Red River continuing to rise and expected to crest at more than 20 feet above flood stage, communities in North Dakota and Minnesota are preparing for widespread flooding. Weather forecasters are expecting that the river may approach the record levels seen just last year, potentially flooding hundreds of square miles.
The filling of sandbags and reinforcing dikes and levees has taken on a sense of urgency along the river.
In Fargo, North Dakota, the Red River was already nearly 13 feet above flood level Wednesday morning – major flood stage by National Weather Service standards. It is forecast to rise seven more feet by Sunday morning.
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco warned in a statement that it flooding is likely to be extensive. “It’s a terrible case of déjà vu, but this time the flooding will likely be more widespread. As the spring thaw melts the snowpack, saturated and frozen ground in the Midwest will exacerbate the flooding of the flat terrain and feed rising rivers and streams.”
The normally picturesque view of England’s Lake District saw itself become the scene of a rescue operation as helicopters and lifeboats plucked hundreds residents and brought them to safety. The area recorded the most rainfall ever recorded in the nation and the weather was responsible for the death of a local constable.
Widespread heavy rain across England and Ireland caused flooding that brought floods as deep as eight feet and engorged rivers that brought down bridges. England set a national rainfall record when 12.3 inches of rain fell in just 24 hours last week at Seathwaite Farm according to Britain’s Met Office.
In the town of Cockermouth, officials estimate 1,000 homes were flooded and more than 200 people were rescued. Local emergency responders and British soldiers conducted house to house searches to extract those struck by the floods. The town, 300 miles northwest of London, is at the confluence of the Cocker and Derwent rivers and is the birthplaces of poet William Woodsworth.
A washed out bridge is shown Monday, Sept. 21, 2009 in Douglasville, Ga. Heavy rain caused flooding in and around the Atlanta area. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
The governor of Georgia issued a state of emergency on Tuesday morning as the death toll from flooding in the area continued to climb. Some areas near Atlanta reported up to 20 inches of rain in recent days as creeks and rivers ran over their banks flooding entire communities and even sending the Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park under water (see slideshow on Examiner.com).
Adding to the tally of lives lost was a 15-year-old boy whose body was found in the Chattooga River Tuesday morning. In a heart wrenching story, in Carroll County, Georgia a 2-year-old boy perished when he was ripped from his father’s arms as the father struggled against floodwaters.
Quite an eventful time we have had over the last 72 hours or so in terms of weather. Some of the more noteworthy items:
The streak ends. With cooler air finally moving into Colorado, Tuesday, August 5th marked the last day of our streak of 90 degree or higher temperatures. Wednesday the temperature reached 88 degrees at DIA thus breaking the heat wave and ending the streak at a record 24 days. The previous record of 18 days was last set 107 years ago in 1901! Click here to view the official statistics for the streak. Here at ThorntonWeather.com, our streak wasn’t quite as long. While the official streak dates back to July 12th, Thornton did have one day – July 17th – where the temperature “only” reached 88 degrees. If we start counting for Thornton on the 18th, that would put the Thornton streak at 17 days. But, let’s face it, “hot is hot” no matter how you look at it!
A racoon takes shelter in a storm drain at 120th & Colorado Blvd. Image courtesy 9News.com.
Record seting rainstorm on Wednesday, August 6th. As we discussed in our previous entry, severe weather moved across the Front Range bringing everything from thunder and lightning to funnel clouds and tornadoes to severe rain. Various watches / warnings were issued including Tornado Warnings, Flash Flood Warnings / Watches and more. Rain totals varied across the metro area with Thornton, particularly the northeast portions of the city, receiving the lion’s share. At ThorntonWeather.com, we measured a whopping 2.43″. The vast majority of that fell in a 70 minute time span from 6:00pm to 7:10pm. Rain rates were reading between 3″ and 7″ per hour during that timeframe! That is ThorntonWeather.com’s #1 rainiest day on record since going into service in October 2006; the previous record was 2.2″ set on April 24, 2007. Some street flooding was reported in Thornton but thankfully little real damage. At DIA they recorded 1.29″ of rain, breaking the old record for the date of 1.1″ set in 1929.
Cooler weather to prevail today. Significant moisture in the atmosphere and cooler temperatures should keep the excitement level down today – at least compared to yesterday. After noon there will be a chance for rain and those that do get rain can expect it to be heavy at times. As long as the temperatures stay down, we shouldn’t have the severity that we experienced yesterday though. Click here to view the latest forecast.
Be safe, use your head, pay attention! A bit of a report from the soapbox today. As we were looking at pictures of the storm on various news sites, we came across one submitted to 9News from a Thornton resident of children playing in the street in the rain. Now, that makes for a wonderfully fun picture and I am sure the kids had fun too but we do question how smart the parents were of these kids. At the time Thornton was getting hit with the storm, lightning was popping across the entire area and there was a Tornado Warning issued as funnel clouds had been spotted. Is outside playing in the street really where kids should be in a case like this? That fun would come to a quick end if lightning struck or worse yet, one of those funnel clouds developed into a tornado. Is that little bit of fun worth the risk of losing your child? THINK ABOUT IT! It may be worthwhile to review our Weather Education Series on Lightning and Tornadoes.
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