Prayers for the folks around the Sydney area

[pware]

Making incredibly slow progress on a number of Trainz routes and an LBSCR L Class. They'll come out... one day!

I know the feeling. My current project began in Trainz 2004 so it is still a teenager. It has had "update" releases for TRS12 and more recently for TRS19. The current update for TRS22 involves all PBR textures, a new 81km extension and the reworking of the terrain and scenery for an existing 137km (so that is effectively new as well). It will also come out "real soon(TM)".

[clam1952]

Back on topic, pictures on TV look pretty bad, 2ft of rain in a couple of days is unimaginable and third time in 18 months or thereabouts must be getting hard for people to put up with the same nightmare repeatedly.

[pware]

must be getting hard for people to put up with the same nightmare repeatedly.

I would move out after the second inundation, but some are now suffering their 4th in the last two years. Fortunately, I am on high ground in one of the highest areas of Sydney and well above the level of the local creeks.

For many of these people flood insurance is either not available or prohibitively expensive ($AU10,000 and more in premiums each year). Places along the several rivers that flow through and around Sydney expect and often get some minor flooding each year with little or no property damage.

About 70% of the floods along the major river that runs west and north of Sydney are caused by overflows from the main water storage dam for Sydney. The areas along this river that are flood affected are mostly agricultural (vegetable and turf farms, some livestock, etc but very few houses) so the annual or semi-annual floods are not a problem. But these last few years has seen a change to major flooding that has inundated residential areas that are above the normal flood plain. The once in one hundred year flood is now an annual or more frequent event. In places the river has now changed its course with some agricultural land disappearing.

A brand new road bridge over that river that was claimed to be "flood-proof" went underwater in one of the floods this year. It was supposed to prevent the common problem of communities on one side of the river being cut off from the rest of Sydney by the annual floods but that was exposed as false in another flood this year when the bridge stayed above the flood waters but the approach roads were fully submerged. Great design work there!

There are several smaller rivers that flow through Sydney and the residents that live nearby but above the flood levels have found their homes flooded, sometimes repeatedly, in the last two years.

What are the causes? Well there are many possibilities from Climate Change to excessive land clearance (fewer trees to soak up the water in the soil) to greedy developers and local councils building residential estates on areas that were not suitable.

[DARTrider]

Imho, those "who have a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other" are not the ones who perpetrate the gun violence. It is for protection. If we didn't "have a gun in one hand" we would have never been able to gain our independence , help other countries in distress, free slaves and other noble tasks. God bless.

While what you said is true, when you put the guns into the hands of those who do no good to society, you end up with what happened on the 4th of July, Uvalde, etc. etc. Not really protection, more like a weapon of mass murder if used wrongly. IMHO guns are to be used only during conflicts involving the armed forces and hunters with a proper hunting license, not someone who can destroy the lives of people in several seconds.

As for the situation in Australia, I feel that these floods will bring more attention to the climate change happening around the world and in Australia. Hopefully things will turn out for the better

[JimDep]

I opened this thread for one reason, and that was to offer a prayer as requested. I didn't mention guns at all but somehow, that left the door open for a snipe at Christian gun owners .

Again, my point is that people who commit these mass murders are not " bible in one hand and gun in the other" types of people. I'm not going to let that go unchallenged. I don't recall one case that states any of the shooters were practicing , prayerful Christians. I'll debate the US Second Amendment and Christian gun owners somewhere else, but not here.

[pware]

I feel that these floods will bring more attention to the climate change happening around the world and in Australia. Hopefully things will turn out for the better

I certainly hope so but, politics and big business being what it is, I will not be holding my breath.

We recently changed our national government here in an election last May. The previous party in power was in favour of more fossil fuel production and consumption while making it harder for those who wanted to switch to renewables (wind and solar with battery storage). The new government is leaning more towards renewables and further away from the fossil fuel industry but I suspect that here, and probably world-wide, it will be a case of "too little and too late". The experts are now predicting that limiting climate change to a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees is now unlikely.

I fear that the floods, and previously the bush fires, we have experienced may be just the overture - but I hope I am wrong. I would rather be a disappointed pessimist than a disappointed optimist.

[bolivar]

Pware, we have had floods and drought here in Australia since white man cometh over the seas. Indigenous peeps been here 40,ooo years and their ancient hand me down stories mention those very same floods and drought. Ten years ago it was climate change causing drought and our very own climate commissioner Tim Flannery who said "Ëven the rain that falls will not be enough to fill our dams"! Gosh was he wrong or what??? Nothing to see here except those with an agenda . That agenda will make us all energy poor. Sydney has seen these floods before. All round Australia we have seen them . Nothing new here. Just more hysterical fear whipped up by a mainstream media looking for a clickbait story.

@JimDep. You are absolutely correct in your statements. The reason behind gun ownership in US stems from the historical fact that your nation emerged from a revolution against British rule. Firearms were used to gain independence. So your second amendment was born out of that reliance on firearms to gain freedom. Here in Australia, we gained a semi form of independence through non violence. That is why Australians view your gun culture with some fascination and horror mixed in. Doesn't stop us from going to the movies and watching gore and guts with absolute delight...Interesting hypocrisy there.

Finally to the the OP who started this thread and the merry cohort piling their prayers publicly. I presume we are talking about Christian prayer here. If not, I apologise beforehand. Now, Christians (Not those affiliated with fake organised religions) are taught that to be truly humble our sincerity is displayed to ourselves and our maker. No one else. We pray in PRIVATE:

Matthew 6:6, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Whenever I hear "Öur thoughts and prayers" come out of someone's mouth, especially politicians, I am somewhat suspicious. How many times throughout history has Christianity been used for evil? Evil brought about by those who bathe themselves in pious glory. "Oh look God , how good I am"... Pray in your heart and don't shout out to the world your "Oh how pious I am" spiel... Does nothing The real heroes are emergency service workers risking their lives to rescue those in danger. You want to do something constructive and REAL? Go and join those heroes , Do something, but please spare me the Virtue signalling. Shouting out your piety from the rafters does nothing for those unfortunate people hit by the floods. All it does is make you feel better about how good you are. Now go in peace all you peeps. I will not pray for you, well not publicly...

[chris2001trainz2010]

we're quoting the bible on a train simulator forum now? god i love wednesdays

[pware]

Today the rain stopped and the sun broke through on various odd occasions. The weather system, an intense low pressure region, moved further north dumping substantial rain on the northern coastal regions of the state before moving out to sea.

Now the cleanup begins. For many it will be merged with the cleanups of previous major floods in March and April, and for some it will be a continuation of repair and cleanup work from last years floods.

The local rivers are carrying a huge quantity of debris that has been washed from farms, homes, shops and businesses. Shipping containers, refrigerators (who would have thought that they would float?), all manner of plastic containers (some containing toxic chemicals), even farm equipment and, regrettably, the bodies of drowned livestock, have all been seen moving down the rivers. Some have started washing up on nearby ocean beaches, carried out of the river mouths and moved by tides, winds and currents.

The immediate cause of this disaster, the La Nina system, the counterpart to the better known "El Nino" (both which move warmer water but in opposite directions across the South Pacific between South America, Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (or "Indian Nino"), which does the same thing across the Indian Ocean, are still with us.

La Nina, which is in its third consecutive season now, brings more moisture to our shores which results in more frequent and intense flooding.

The Indian Ocean Dipole, when flowing eastward (called a "negative dipole event"), does the same on the opposite side of the continent but prevailing winds bring its rains across the continent to the eastern shores. We are currently in a strong negative dipole that has so far lasted 5 years - strong negative and positive events normally last about 6 months each but since the dipole was only discovered in 1999 it is probably too early to judge what is normal or abnormal.

A 3rd consecutive year of La Nina and a 5th of a negative Indian Ocean Dipole has resulted in the current situation. As I stated above, both are still with us and are predicted to last well into our Spring (Autumn/Fall in the Northern Hemisphere) so do not put away your water wings just yet.

Many thanks to those who have expressed sympathy and concern.

My thoughts

ADDENDUM: The state government here has finally acknowledged what everyone else knew by announcing that the term "Once in XXX year event" will disappear from their phrasebook. The State Premier (equivalent, more or less, of a State Governor) stated that the term "Once in 100 year flood" is totally meaningless when you are confronted by 3 such event in a single year, and more over a two year period. The phrase has frequently been used by governments as excuses to do little or nothing to mitigate such events.

[SRKing783]

Well, I'm glad that the rain stopped finally. I truly hope that all goes well for the cleanup effort down south, and at least now the government admits that it isn't a "once in a 100 year flood". Even though La Nina and the Indian Ocean Diphole existed before clinate change became something significant, it has definitely been made worse because of it, and I really hope that the state government will be able to aid the situation.

To all those who have been affected by the flood, whether or not they are on these forums, I hope that you will be able to recover from it, and that you will help inform the country that they need to do something about it.

[blueodessey]

Prayers from Blues house to our Australian Friends,

Unfortunately for us over here across the great Pond, we are dryer in Eleven Western States with horrible Fires the last many years. Lots of our Trees are dying over here. And into our 7th year I think of Drought. We had some Towns that got completely burned out in some years, some that may never come back!

Weather has changed here as well, continued high pressure systems that send our much needed Moisture up Northwards and floods Midwest and East Coast areas depending. Not a pretty picture anyway you slice it.

And we have idiot Developers, lack of common sense, that don't get what a Flood Plain means and try, and do build in those areas. And other dummies that thought deconstructing some our Water Dams was a great idea. Well now they see it wasn't such a good idea.

And finally they are thinking we just might need to build some Desalination Plants, about 20 yrs too late, and probably 3-4 more times expensive.

God Bless Australia and look over the land.

[pware]

And finally they are thinking we just might need to build some Desalination Plants, about 20 yrs too late, and probably 3-4 more times expensive.

We started building them back in 2006 as a measure to counter the many long droughts we suffer - strangely, a drought almost seems good today! There are now 7 such plants in operation with production capacities of 125 - 410 Megalitres per day.

Sydney has one that was switched on for the first time in 2010. Its construction (and cost) was the target of much criticism at the time as being a waste of money. The decision to build was made in 2007 during a prolonged drought when our water storage levels dropped to just over 33%, the lowest since the 1940s but Sydney was much smaller back then. Its operation is tied to the dam storage levels and it is only switched on when the level drops below 60% and it is switched off once the level rises to 70%.

It uses a reverse osmosis membrane to remove the salt and is powered by renewable energy. A wind farm was constructed specifically to supply its power requirements.

In 2020 the State government announced that the plant production capacity would be doubled, to produce up to 30% of Sydney's water demand. This was the result of the dam levels dropping rapidly to 43% in the drought of 2019.

It is costly to operate, even when in "switched off" mode. It is estimated that it adds about $AU25 to $AU30 ($US17 to $US20) a year to the water bills of all Sydney residents.

[pware]

After a few days of sunshine between broken clouds, today it is back to the latest "normal" condition - rain. This is predicted to be the case for all of this coming week as well. It must make cleaning up after the recent flood, or floods, much more miserable.

I received an interesting PM from a user in Germany who pointed to the floods that they are also having - they have my sympathy. He also gave me a link to a BBC news report about the latest conspiracy theory - that the floods here in Australia are all due to cloud seeding operations and have nothing to do with climate change. It must be easy to make such claims when you are on the other side of the world.

The simple fact is that Australia's premier scientific research organisation, the CSIRO (the same people who invented WiFi), did do cloud seeding experiments in the late 1950s to early 1960s. The experiments and research were abandoned when it was shown that seeding, or not seeding, made no statistical difference to the rainfall. But I am certain that the next conspiracy theory on the matter will introduce a 60 year "time delay" between the seeding and the rain - makes sense to me! Or perhaps the floods and WiFi are linked (Bill Gates is that you?)

My (erratic) thoughts.

[Enkidoh]

Pware, I hope you and everyone over east will be safe and that things can get back to normal for you all as quickly as it can (once the rain stops). Watching the constant flooding over the past year and a half has been heartbreaking, and I can only imagine what you're all going through over there.

As for desalination, here in Perth we've been using desalination for our drinking water since the mid 2000s (we currently have two desalination plants operating and a third is planned), and they're regarded as being a complete success - Perth has been experincing reduced rainfall since the mid 1990s and thus reduced runoff into catchment areas and resulting declining dam levels. Without the desal plants we would dried out long ago). So Blue I really hope they're built in the US too as the technology does work and is worth the investment.

[pware]

Yes, the Western state seems to do things a bit better than the Eastern states, be it water or energy supply. I guess physical isolation has its benefits. (Your State politicians seem to be more popular than ours as well).