Wild weather causes flooding in Melbourne and chaos in Sydney

A thunderstorm sweeping across Melbourne is causing widespread flash flooding prompting numerous calls for assistance.

Sydneysiders are also dealing with traffic chaos as residents along the length of the New South Wales coast are being told to prepare for heavy rainfall, damaging winds and large hailstones.

People in the Melbourne CBD and eastern suburbs are being warned to stay indoors and not to enter floodwaters.

A live map of the city on the VicEmergency website is dotted with requests for assistance due to flooding. Areas include Hawthorn, Richmond, Toorak, Kew, Cremorne and Port Melbourne.

Read the story from The Guardian by Australian Associated Press - “Wild weather causes flooding in Melbourne and chaos in Sydney.

(In his book “Defiant Earth: The fate of humans in the anthropocene” Clive Hamilton quotes climatologist Kevin Trenberth, who said: “All weather events are affected by [human-induced] climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be.” 

Surely, what is happening up and down Australia’s east-coast is climate change made visible - Robert McLean)

Climate change is making cities sick and we need to act

Urban Canadians are feeling the impact of climate change. Flooding in Quebec this spring damaged nearly 1,900 homes in 126 municipalities, causing widespread psychological distress. Summer heatwaves are predicted to become more frequent and severe each year, putting more people at risk of injury and death. Vancouver and Toronto are working to manage these risks. Most Canadian cities need to work harder to include climate change in public health planning.

The Climate Change Adaptation Research Group at McGill University looks at how climate change is impacting human society, and what solutions we can design to protect ourselves. Drawing on evidence from our research into cities in Canada and around the world, we propose that cities will need to integrate climate change concerns into public health and the health-care sector more seriously.

Cities must also focus on the most vulnerable groups (such as low-income households and older adults) and emphasize the participation of citizens and the community in planning for climate change impacts.

Read the piece by three authors on The Conversation - “Climate change is making cities sick and we need to act.”