AreaRead the video transcript expand here
It keeps raining.
Within four days, the flood areas in Australia recorded as much rain as otherwise falls in London in a year.
Entire areas are under a meter of water.
The state of New South Wales is in a state of catastrophe.
According to the Ministry for Disaster Management, tens of thousands of people have fled.
For many communities, it is the fourth flood in less than 18 months.
However, it is difficult to attribute the situation specifically to climate change, says Agus Santoso.
He is a senior climate researcher at the University of New South Wales.
O-Ton Agus Santoso, climate researcher:
»
Global warming is increasing the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, but it is also causing a shift in weather patterns.
So there is a scenario that we need to consider: there could be a long-term drought in eastern Australia, but there are also years where it is extremely wet, as it is now.
Global warming can also amplify the El Niño and La Niña cycles and increase the occurrence of extreme La Nina and El Niña events.
So El Nino is the opposite of La Nina, it brings drought.
So in a global warming scenario, we need to be prepared for the possibility of a drought/wet cycle or flood cycle the following year.
«
Climate researcher Santoso blames the weather phenomenon La Niña in the Pacific region for the current flood.
It's the cold sister of El Niño.
O-Ton Agus Santoso, climate researcher:
»
We experienced La Niña two years in a row.
Basically, La Niña is a phenomenon, a tropical Pacific event that results in above-average rainfall in Australia.
If La Niña lasts longer, the catchments and dams will already be full—it only takes a few extreme weather events like the East Coast lows to have an increased risk of flooding.”
Further research must show exactly how climate change and the weather phenomena La Niña and El Niño are connected.
Meanwhile, residents in the affected areas have no choice but to flee the flood.
