Concerns for environment as Morrison merges government departments

A major shake-up of the federal public service has raised concerns the Morrison government's focus on environmental and climate issues will be downgraded as the areas are subsumed into two new mega departments.

Scott Morison has announced a major shake-up of the public service.

The number of government departments will shrink from 18 to 14, four new departments will be created and five department heads will lose their jobs in changes that will take effect on February 1 next year.

Read the story from The Age by Mike Foley - “Concerns for environment as Morrison merges government departments.”

Eastern states battered by more wild weather as a cyclone and floods hit

As Cyclone Owen made landfall and was downgraded to a category 2 storm over Queensland’s west coast, cities and towns across eastern Australia were hit by their own flooding and chaos.

Heavy rains on Friday night made movement difficult in parts of
 Melbourne - this is an underpass in Richmond.

And there’s more to come with weather warnings issued for more heavy rain and flash flooding across parts of NSW and Victoria over the weekend.

On Friday afternoon in Melbourne, where a late afternoon storm dumped 37.2 millimetres of rain in just 60 minutes, roads flooded and a Paul Kelly concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl came to a soggy halt.

Fans found themselves ankle-deep in water as speakers tumbled and the capacity crowd was soaked to the skin.

Read The New Daily story - “Eastern states battered by more wild weather as a cyclone and floods hit."

Florence Will Drop an Inconceivable Amount of Water

On Friday, Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina. It was also downgraded to a Category 1 storm: Its high winds, while still “extremely dangerous,” are no longer the storm’s scariest trait.

A color-amplified satellite image of Hurricane
Florence, captured by NOAA satellites on September 14

But then again, they never were.

Florence’s main threat has always been the water. In the coming days, Florence will besiege the Carolinas through two different mechanisms: First, it will inundate the coastline with powerful and deadly storm surge. Second, it will drop trillions of gallons of water across the region, from the barrier islands to the Appalachians, overwhelming dozens of rivers and creeks and initiating 1,000-year floods.

Read the story by Robinson Myer from The Atlantic - “Florence Will Drop an Inconceivable Amount of Water.”

Queensland weather: Tropical Cyclone Linda downgraded as system tracks toward coast

Tropical Cyclone Linda has been downgraded to a subtropical low, but south-east Queensland residents are still bracing for gale-force winds, abnormally high tides and dangerous surf as the system continues to approach the coast.

Linda developed from a tropical low in the Coral Sea about 3:00pm AEST on Tuesday, despite the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) earlier saying a cyclone system was unlikely.

But by 10:00am on Wednesday, the BOM said Linda was no more.

Although the system is not expected to cross the coast, senior forecaster Rick Threlfall said it would still pack a punch.

Read the ABC News story - “Queensland weather: Tropical Cyclone Linda downgraded as system tracks toward coast.”

Record low rain for prime agricultural regions

Some of Australia’s prime agricultural regions have reported record low September rainfall, threatening an already downgraded estimate for crop production.

Some of Australia's prime agricultural regions have
repoerted low September rainfall, threatening an already
 downgraded crop estimate for crop production.

During the past four months there have been serious to severe deficiencies across the majority of NSW, southern and coastal parts of Queensland, a large area of southern South Australia, eastern Victoria and eastern Tasmania.

September rainfall in the Murray-Darling Basin, regarded as the nation’s food bowl, was the lowest on record, the Bureau of Meteorology said in its latest drought statement last week.

Rainfall was well below average — ranked in the lowest 10 per cent of records — for a large area of the mainland’s south-east.

For NSW as a whole, September rainfall was the lowest on record, while for Queensland it was the tenth-driest September since records began in 1900.

Read the Country News story - “Record low rain.”