Monthly cumulative rainfall residuals for Naracoorte, Australia with IPO [40]. (IPO: interdecadal pacific oscillation). Abstract: In Australia, a persistent drought extending over a 5- to 10-years duration has produced severe water restrictions for over 90 percent of water users in the nation. The effects of the 1996-2007 drought relative to other droughts and the implications […]
Australia, already the driest inhabited continent on Earth, is drying up for good. The state of New South Wales is particularly hard-hit, with catastrophic mega-fires destroying the eucalyptus forests, major rivers reduced to muddy streambeds, and dams drained to nothing but algae-filled ponds. Wyangala Dam is an example of how it will end. Now down […]
By BRIAN ROBINSNovember 28, 2009 LOW water levels will force the shutdown of the large Wallerawang power station near Lithgow over Christmas, as efforts are made to to take pressure off local water supplies. The move is the clearest impact yet of the dry weather conditions on the state’s electricity industry. A continuing lack of […]
By Josephine Tovey, November 28, 2009 FISH lie belly-up on the cracked bed of Lake Cargelligo. Like the lake it is built around, the town is drying out. Lake Cargelligo, a settlement of 1300 in the geographical heart of NSW, was once a holiday haven for swimmers and waterskiers. Now empty shops line the […]
ALICE SPRINGS, Australia – Australian authorities plan to corral about 6,000 wild camels with helicopters and gun them down after they overran a small Outback town in search of water, trampling fences, smashing tanks and contaminating supplies. The Northern Territory government announced its plan Wednesday for Docker River, a town of 350 residents where thirsty […]
Docker River, an Australian Outback town, is under siege from 6,000 wild camels which have laid waste to the area in search of water. By Murray WardropPublished: 4:20PM GMT 26 Nov 2009 Residents in the Northern Territory settlement have been left cowering in their homes after the animals trampled fences, smashed through water mains and […]
By JOSEPHINE TOVEYNovember 26, 2009 NEXT month Viv Lemottee will have to make a choice between his animals and his washing machine. One of about 130 residents of the tiny hamlet of Euabalong, in the Lachlan Valley in the state’s west, he’s about to receive his daily ration of water by truck: just 150 litres […]
November 24, 2009 – 2:13PM (AAP) – As heatwave conditions hit last week, record temperatures were recorded across much of southeastern Australia, but there was no hotter place than Marree. The temperature in the small town, at the junction of the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks, on the edge of the desert 685km north of Adelaide, […]
By MARIAN WILKINSON ENVIRONMENT EDITORNovember 23, 2009 SYDNEY sweltered in near record-breaking heat yesterday as the temperature climbed above 40 degrees across the city just after 3pm. At the airport the mercury hit 42.5, pipping Penrith’s high of 42.1. And the metropolitan heat was almost as fierce as the 43 recorded in the state’s north-west […]
By ELLIE HARVEY AND BELLINDA KONTOMINASNovember 23, 2009 FIRES burned aggressively across NSW yesterday, scorching about 12,000 hectares of the state but claiming just one property. About 130 fires were fanned by sweltering heat and gusty conditions that led to emergency warnings for eight towns. This level of warnings advises residents to enact their bushfire […]
