19 replies to this topic

[Hayden]

The flood problem has lowered the water quality in four rivers, the Water Pollution Control Department's Water Quality Management Office director Anupan Itharat said yesterday, raising fears for the health of thousands living near the waterways.

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[artistry]

This article is quite horrific. Hopefully the methods that they are employing, to try to reduce the risk of contamination to the people, who live in these areas and are unable to avoid wading through the polluted waters. Some type of vaccination or immunization shots shoud be available, to prevent certain diseases, which could be contracted from these conditions. This is a very sad state of affairs. Thanks for the article.

Edited by artistry, 03 October 2011 - 07:18 PM.

[kat74]

That's always the problem of flooding because the floods water passes in sewer line and all sorts of waste products. It carries all these to the rivers and other water sources which the communities are using. These always becomes an healthy risk to the people and an outbreak of waterborne disease is eminent.

[dconklin]

Our river was hit pretty hard last year after rising frequently (not at flood stage in the spring but rising many times) and then we had a very low point in the summer.  After that we got hit with Hurricane Irene and then the tropical storm a week later.  Both storms put it in flood stage.  There were warnings not to go swimming in our river last summer.  Even before the major storms hit.  It was a weird color compared to normal too.  Almost a rusty color.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

I can't even imagine the pollution in the Japanese waterways after their earthquake/tsunami last year.
As horrible as that was for the water, it was a double whammy because of the fires they had for weeks
afterward, and all those toxins becoming air borne.
(Not to mention, the pollution from the radiation, which is still leaking into the sea to this day.)
http://www.japantime...20120308a5.html
http://www.washingto...rAmR_story.html

And what of the so-called "historic" floods our own country suffers through, almost yearly now, instead
of once every 40 or 50 years? It trashes the ecosystems off the coast of Louisiana, and the gulf of Mexico.

[tri-n-b-helpful]

Down here, we're experiencing this all first-hand. In the flooding, it's mostly sewage mixed with household chemicals, etc. If you wanted to find one positive outcome... in years gone by, one could frequently find the deadly tiger snake swimming effortlessly through flood waters here, having no hesitation in giving the unfortunate the kiss of death as it passes. Recently, however, no one has seen any living creature in the putrid flood waters.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 10 March 2012 - 02:51 AM, said:

Down here, we're experiencing this all first-hand. In the flooding, it's mostly sewage mixed with household chemicals, etc. If you wanted to find one positive outcome... in years gone by, one could frequently find the deadly tiger snake swimming effortlessly through flood waters here, having no hesitation in giving the unfortunate the kiss of death as it passes. Recently, however, no one has seen any living creature in the putrid flood waters.

It's heart wrenching to see such loss close up. Our hearts (and I think I speak for the whole community here, on this
one) go out to you and your countrymen.

[tri-n-b-helpful]

Thank you for your good wishes.

I guess I don't need to tell you the "latest"... the Jindabyne dam over there has burst and most of Sydney is under water. Transportation systems - road and rail, plus energy distribution systems, are in chaos for the whole of Sydney. I tried to tell them years ago that they needed to decentralize, but no-one there listened!

The worrying part is that the State of NSW was the most prepared in the country for exactly this kind of disaster. Whole systems of levees and dams had millions spent on them for decades. These helped to give people time to assess and evacuate, but the end results are the same. The waters are starting to go down now, very slowly, and within a month, people will think about rebuilding if the weather holds out. Most people's insurance does not cover this kind of flood damage, so pensioners who own their own homes as their only real asset are the worst off. Flooding hits hardest economically. Our nation's food bowls are in the lower lying areas that were flooded. We still have plenty to go around, but prices are tipped to soar. By far the worst is that all the mines are flooded. These take almost half a year to dry out enough for reconstruction work to even begin. Maybe you know all this already, so sorry to whinge.

[E3 wise]

It's not whining and I agree with Shortpoet.

[mariaandrea]

Ditto. I'm learning more from you than the news, really. And it's awful. There's no possible way to whinge when it's so bad. The long-term consequences are what's really bad to contemplate, I think. The economy, people's jobs, homes... all of it... Hang in there.

[tri-n-b-helpful]

Thanks people.

I've just seen video footage of what those tornados are doing to you guys. You have twenty seven dead as a result; we have just one. It seems that we have very little to complain about in comparison. Sorry for any of you affected up there. Japan, of course, was much worse than we had - not as widespread, but deadly in terms of lives lost.

Umm... it gets worse. Wild fires are ripping through Perth tonight. Forced evacuations are in place - the whole works - all over again! There goes our best prepared anti-bushfire state - considered world experts in back-burning. If they hadn't done the back-burning it would have been much worse. Have you ever been caught in a fire-storm like they had in Victoria? Those aren't normal bushfires that can be predicted. I don't know the physics behind it, but one minute you hear there's a fire some eighty kilometers away, the very next minute you see an airborne fire swirl and your property is lit up like there was fire called down from heaven.

Sorry... back on topic again... just before the recent floods came, that same region was in drought for over a decade! If you like to live life to the extreme, there's nothing like Down Under! I reckon all that water around must surely have pushed up the water table quite a bit by now. There's no point in us feeling sorry for ourselves; we should be doing what the Americans say, "when life throws lemons at you, make lemonade". That being said, I reckon it's high time I sunk a bore in the backyard and said goodbye to water bills forever!

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Not to diminish your problems, but countries all over the globe are suffering from floods and fires.
It's the new normal. Droughts in Africa are displacing millions of people.

In my mind, the people that experience these horrors are not in the position to be heard.

Hurricane Katrina and the people that were devastated by tornadoes, in this country, come to mind.

How can citizens (no matter what country) be active in their dissent against climate change, if they
don't have anything? No house, no phone, even no id's in some cases, no voter cards.

And even if they had some of these things, the loss and the grief is what is on their minds-not e-mailing
some congressmen to introduce legislation to stop emissions.

(And it's good to see that Australia has an on-going organization to rescue and rehabilitate Koala bears
from the bush fires over the years. They do great work.
http://dawn-m-smith....stralia-a252767

[zararina]

Yes there are floods in every part of the globe and worse is what it had caused. The flood alone can cause too much damage, more for polluted flood waters that bring illnesses and contamination to sources of water. And really better if something should be done and we do our part of making it better even in our own little ways.

[tri-n-b-helpful]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 11 March 2012 - 05:10 AM, said:

Not to diminish your problems, but countries all over the globe are suffering from floods and fires.
It's the new normal. Droughts in Africa are displacing millions of people.

In my mind, the people that experience these horrors are not in the position to be heard.

Hurricane Katrina and the people that were devastated by tornadoes, in this country, come to mind.

How can citizens (no matter what country) be active in their dissent against climate change, if they
don't have anything? No house, no phone, even no id's in some cases, no voter cards.

And even if they had some of these things, the loss and the grief is what is on their minds-not e-mailing
some congressmen to introduce legislation to stop emissions.

(And it's good to see that Australia has an on-going organization to rescue and rehabilitate Koala bears
from the bush fires over the years. They do great work.
http://dawn-m-smith....stralia-a252767

Koalas are a touchy subject where I live. Only about a hundred kilometres away from where I am, they kill them every year in large numbers... larger number die than are saved.
http://www.theisland...on/1231676.aspx

They do the same to camels, kangaroos, crocodiles, emus - you name it, if it moves, they shoot it, then try to justify it.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 11 March 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

They do the same to camels, kangaroos, crocodiles, emus - you name it, if it moves, they shoot it, then try to justify it.

Sounds like you have a lot of sarah palin's in your country too.

[dconklin]

Tri-n-b-helpful, I wouldn't say you are whining.  It is horrible what many people are going through with the floodwaters.  We had more floodwater last year then we have in a while, but nothing as bad as you or others.  I can only imagine what it is like from our experience which is not as bad I know.  Is the water coming down at all? I am hoping you and everybody there stays safe!

[tri-n-b-helpful]

Thanks for all your concerns.

In South Australia, we're the only state to miss out on all of these disasters. Our main issue was that the Murray River urgently, urgently needs flushing from top to bottom. Salt has killed the environment and industries in the whole lower lakes region. The interstate irrigators upstream, which we've been locked in battle with for centuries, refused to release enough water to us for even environmental essential purposes. I hope they can all get it right up there and send us far more water than we know what to do with! Most of the water from these floods, however, is going straight out to sea.

I hope you guys are all fine up there and nobody you know got hurt or died.

[4leafclover]

I hope you guys are doing well despite of all the news. In our place, the only thing that scares me when its flooding is the dreaded Leptospirosis, acquired from floodwaters contaminated by the urine of animals carrying the bacteria which enters the skin via open wounds. If this is not treated promptly it will lead to meningitis which is really life-threatening. And although vaccines are out already, I still am scared of it.

[Inah Kristine P.]

We all know that water pollution is a big problem in the society. And when water pollution is discussed flood is one of the problem. And we are all aware that there are health concerns in flood because of the disease that it brings us like leptospyrosis brought by the urine of the rat. That's why we should prevent the things that are causing this kind of problem in the society.

[Abdusabal Jalani]

What causes floods? due to lacking of trees in our mountains, canal systems that is overflown with garbage then the next is floods, flood could easily build up when there are no canals or anything that can lead water out of our cities and those garbage that blocks the way could also bring germs and bacteria that can bring diseases that can harm our health