Before we start the article, if you or a loved one has been affected by the Victorian Floods in October the government website has resources and help:
https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/victorian-floods-october-2022?context=60042
Please refer to this if you need any extra aid and additional support in these trying times.
Starting from the early hours of the first week in October, we have seen some of the worst floods in a long time. These make the February eastern Australia floods look miniscule by comparison with Victoria and New South Wales getting evacuation orders in the early hours of Friday, 14th of October. Here at GaraDry we are hoping that all of you are safe and sound during these floods and that you have not been hit by them.
Combined with the hot climate of Australia, which has now reached 40°C this morning of 25th Oct, and areas reaching over 400mm of rainfall Australia is facing a huge crisis. There are news articles popping up everyday talking about how Australia is becoming a worse place to live than previously known, and with this amount of flooding it’s completely understandable why. There are many pictures and videos surfacing online of people reacting to the floods and the state of their houses following the rising water levels, and it’s really disheartening and saddening.
What is the root cause of these Victorian Floods?
The weather in Australia is temperamental at the best of days, but it is never usually this bad. In the last few years it has been the recipient of some truly dire situations, the most crushing of those being the extremely heavy bush fires in late 2019 and early 2020 before the pandemic. If you look at this Guardian article, the very first image looks like it’s from an apocalyptic movie. Some detractors back then have said that Australia is “always like this” regarding the fires. But this is now the 3rd major instance of a natural disaster level threat to the standard of living in this country in the past 2 years alone, and a good chunk of those were spent fully inside for a lot of us.
The root cause as it is with most of our environmental problems, is global warming and climate change. With Australia becoming god’s petri-dish, from the wildlife which has to grow to ridiculous sizes to natural disaster level events every few months. This is becoming more and more clearly an endemic problem in the world, and if there are rivers which nearly reach their highest peak of water in over 100 years, we have a huge problem on our hands. Though with many saying that it’s too late to change the course of this trajectory that humanity has set out for ourselves, it is best to at least try because if you start trying today you might wake up to a better tomorrow.
What do these Victorian floods tell us about the planet’s fate?
Some experts said back during the wildfires that this is a predictor of the planet’s future if you’d like to read more about this click this article from nature.com which goes into clear detail about what this means for the environment. The average temperature in Australia all throughout the year has risen 1.4°C over pre-industrial era weather, with scientists predicting that this could rise to a 2.0°C average increase in the next few years. If that is true for Australia, the rest of the world will surely follow, most places are currently 1.1°C or 1.0°C above pre-industrial era temperatures, but this will be set to increase in line with Australia.
If the war in Ukraine has taught us anything, especially our European friends on the other side of the globe, it’s that we can’t rely on gas or oil anymore. Whether it’s controlled by a tyrant or not, it is not sustainable long term. The fact that so many households over in Europe are struggling to maintain their bills and keep their finances in check over ridiculous utilities costs shows that we need to find a new way. Sooner rather than later.
What can you do in order to minimize the effect of flooding?
The first thing you will want to address is to buy flood insurance for your home, this is an absolute no-brainer as you don’t want to be left with nothing should it get truly dire. This will help you get back on your feet if your home were to experience the effects of severe floods. Though this might not be an immediate solution to the problem in the long term this will help out severely judging by what’s been happening over here in the past two years.
When it’s quiet during the floods make sure you clean all of your drains and gutters, this is because otherwise they can become blocked up with debris and unable to drain the water which will more easily spill out causing water damage. Additionally as far as housekeeping is concerned, make sure that you cut off all electric current at the breaker or plugs as you risk electrocuting yourself and others not to mention an even higher risk of losing your appliances permanently.
If you have the strength or a few friends it’s best to place anything important around 100mm above the projected rainfall as it could get much worse very quickly. It is important to move clothes, appliances, and anything that will be susceptible to water damage to a safe enough area. Additionally if you have any cracks, seal openings or otherwise make sure to fill them up somehow as any major leakage can cause lasting damage to your property.
How to protect your property from future flooding?
Though more common in places like America, a good way to work towards protecting your house from floods is to install flood vents. These will stop overspill affecting your home as the water will not be able to stay inside the home. An adjacent solution is to get a sump pump, especially if you have a basement as those will move water from there to outside your home therefore not allowing any of it to stay.
Installing flood-resistant insulation is also pretty important and replacing your drywall with something a lot more waterproof. Though this might be expensive it’s a very effective way to flood-proof your home. You should also call a plumber and have them look at installing a sewer backflow valve, this should stop undesirables from reaching inside your house.
If you have a garage then it would be best to find a way to insure that everything inside won’t be affected by heavy flooding during not just flooding but heavy rainfall. Our range of products and garage door seal kits can go a long way to helping that, but it would be best to install shelves and get some elevation in case it gets particularly bad and starts spilling through the walls.
Please stay safe and make sure that you and your family are taken care of during these floods and call 132 500 or 000 if you are in an emergency or crisis situation!