Canberra hit by heavy rain, flash flooding inundates homes.

A deluge has brought parts of Canberra to a standstill and left some residents counting the cost as their homes flooded.

Cars under water at an apartment complex's car park in O'Connor

After a night of high winds and rain, Canberrans woke up on Sunday to more wet weather, which caused flash flooding through the morning.

Sixty millimetres of rain were recorded in the space of an hour at Sullivan's creek, just off Lake Burley Griffin, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Just before 1:30pm, BOM cancelled the severe thunderstorm warning in place for the ACT, but warned Port Macquarie, Taree, Orange, Bathurst, Walgett and Dubbo could experience flash floods.

Read the ABC News story by Jon Healy - “Canberra hit by heavy rain, flash flooding inundates homes.”

Why don’t our cities cope with heavy rain?

It’s officially the first day or summer but you wouldn’t know it in Victoria as the state braces itself for a deluge of rain.  Although this opening of the heavens might be giving your plants a good water, extreme rainfall events can actually cause major flooding, car accidents, property damage and even loss of life. And we know that as our climate changes we’ll see more severe storms and rain events and lengthier droughts.

As heavy rain hits, how do our cities deal with it?

While our research can’t prevent extreme events from happening, it can help protect people from their effects.

“Planning cities to cope with extreme rainfall events is critically important to minimise property loss, reduce danger to lives, and reduce any negative effects on the natural environment, especially waterways,” said Dr Simon Toze from our Adaptive Liveable Cities team.

Our research, based on water and future resilient cities, includes finding environmental-friendly solutions for long-term sustainability and water supply, preventing contaminants, as well as reducing discharge of water and wastewater while protecting human health.

Read the CSIROscope story by Amy Edwards - “Why don’t our cities cope with heavy rain?”

Tennant Creek deluged with 'one-in-50-year' flood

Flooding in Tennant Creek saw
70mm of rain fall in just 70 minutes.

The normally dry town of Tennant Creek has experienced a deluge overnight in what meteorologists say was a one-in-50-year flood.

Irena Edwards-Kelly, 26, said she appreciated the rain when it began, but she had now had enough.

"It is good rain and I was loving it, but it gets annoying," she said.

It was the highest floodwaters Ms Edwards-Kelly had ever seen in the town.

Senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin, Graeme King, said the flooding was a significant event.

Read the ABC story by Xavier La Canna - “Tennant Creek deluged with 'one-in-50-year' flood.”

Climate change-induced rains flood Indian city

India's fourth most populous city, Chennai,
 under water as climate change
brings worst rains in a century.

Chennai: The Indian military has evacuated more than 2000 residents stranded in the southern state of Tamil Nadu as the death toll from flooding rose to 269 after the heaviest rains in more than a century.

Forecasts of more rain over the next 48 hours forced the army to work on a war footing to rescue survivors trapped in inundated parts of Chennai, India's fourth most populous city.

Chennai saw only slight rains on Thursday, but water levels had not receded since Wednesday morning, when a massive release of water from a brimming reservoir swamped low-lying areas of the city.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has blamed climate change for the deluge, travelled to Chennai to get a first-hand view of a rescue effort that has so far been halting.

Read the story from today’s Melbourne Age - “India floods: Army on war footing to rescue survivors as death toll nears 270.”

Get set for a deluge of denial

Get set for a deluge, not of rain, rather denial.

A story published on Slate and headed: “As climate change report draws near, deniers raise voices and bury heads deeper”, warns us to shelter ourselves for the downpour of denial.

It points to Rupert Murdoch owned “anything” and of course News Corp as the anchor of the denial campaign.