Climate change is driving dangerous and unpredictable weather

A large tree toppled over in the inner
southern suburb of Springfield in Adelaide.

Something strange is going on with the weather. It might be spring, but that hasn't stopped snow falling in the ACT. Or, wet weather forcing the territory's major flower festival to close for the second day running. In Victoria, farms that were dying  of thirst only months earlier have had dams fill too quickly – flooding parts of the state.

In South Australia we're dealing with a storm that has been described as "cyclonic", "super" and a one-in-50-year event.

I live in a sleepy Adelaide suburb, the sort of place where droughts are front of mind, not flooding rains. My house is near a creek that is dry for most of the year. I have lived beside it for almost 20 years with little concern, but a fortnight ago the State Emergency Service issued what would become the first of many warnings.

I arrived home in time to see the creek burst its banks, sending a torrent of muddy water down our street and another a block away. Neighbours at the top end of the street were flooded almost immediately. I spoke to one woman who looked up from the TV to realise a tide of muddy water was coming in under the door and across her carpet.

Read Mary Heath’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Climate change is driving dangerous and unpredictable weather.”