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.”

Recovery is a work in progress on the Texas coastline

PORT ARANSAS, TEX. — Islander souvenir shop has a new roof, inner walls replaced and a load of stuffed dolphins, key chains and shot glasses fresh off the truck. But when it reopened on the first Saturday of spring break, seven months after Hurricane Harvey’s landfall nearby, half the store was still cordoned off and empty.

Pam Luebke works to clean the floors at Island Sports,
a tourist shop in Port Aransas. The tourist shop recently
 opened after completing repairs from Hurricane Harvey.

Workers planned to get back on their hands and knees to scrape mud off more of the concrete floor in the coming weeks, but Islander was one of the lucky businesses. More than half are still closed. Windows blown out. Debris piled out front. “No trespassing” signs posted.

Port Aransas, a beach town on a barrier island near the middle of the Texas coast, is almost entirely dependent on tourism. This month accounts for 20 percent of the $400 million it brings in every year from visitors. Half of the city’s income comes in between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

Read The Washington Post story by Mary Beth Gahan - “Recovery is a work in progress on the Texas coastline.”

Climate change: Let's talk openly and honestly

Hurricanes typically weaken before they make landfall. Not Harvey.

An abandoned truck remains on Interstate 45 in
Houston on Aug. 29 in the wake of flooding caused
by Hurricane Harvey. 

The historic storm actually grew stronger in the immediate 24 hours before it made landfall in Texas, the bathtub-warm water acting like a perfect fuel for Harvey's fury.

For decades, scientists have warned the man-made climate change could bring bizarre and unprecedented events. Harvey probably belongs on that list.

If Houston is going to be serious about keeping our city safe from Mother Nature, then we have to make global warming part of the discussion.

It will be a tough conversation. Even in the 21st century, the oil and gas industry still serves as our core economic engine. They've brought untold wealth and prosperity, but at the end of the day their product is responsible for carbon emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere.

Read the Houston Chronicle story - “Climate change: Let's talk openly and honestly.”