Queensland can expect catastrophic heat waves (but then coal is more important than climate, isn’t it?)
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The ‘catastrophic’ effect of increasing heatwaves on Queensland, https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/the-catastrophic-effect-of-increasing-heatwaves-on-queensland-20190616-p51yaf.html Stuart Layt, June 17, 2019 Queensland’s emergency services are planning for more catastrophic weather events – including 30-day heatwaves and 43-degree peak temperatures – as the effects of climate change turn up the heat on regional parts of the state.
The state government commissioned the Queensland State Heatwave Risk Assessment 2019 following the extended heatwave over much of the state in late 2018, which culminated in “catastrophic” fire conditions. “Over the last few summers we have experienced record-breaking heatwaves and seen how their impacts are intensified when they coincide with another natural disaster,” Health Minister Steven Miles said in his foreword to the report. “We only need to look to the October 2018 bushfires, or the February 2019 North Queensland flooding, to see how heatwaves can cause further distress during times of crisis.” The summer of 2018-19 was the hottest on record for Australia. The report, made public this month and running over 100 pages, comprehensively lays out the various impacts the predicted increases to the length and severity of heatwaves would have on Queensland. It was developed using long-term climate modelling provided by the climate science division of the Department of Environment and Science, and is intended to be used by emergency services and related agencies to develop disaster management plans. The state is staring down the barrel of sweating through 15 per cent of the year in heatwave conditions by 2090, up from 3 per cent in 2018, as well as an increase in the duration of individual heatwaves from four days to nearly 30. The average temperature of heatwaves is predicted to rise from 32.5 degrees to 36 degrees, and the average temperature of the peak of the heatwaves will rise from 34 degrees to 43 degrees.
That extra heat is expected to have a range of effects on everything from people’s personal health and the environment to the multiple industries which would be affected, potentially costing the state billions of dollars. The expected effect on individual Queenslanders is “major to catastrophic”, with increased mortality rates among older people and those with pre-existing conditions. That would have a flow-on effect for hospital and health services, which would be under increasing pressure under this scenario. The report notes heatwaves already result in lost productivity to industry across Australia to the value of $8.8 billion, a figure expected to increase accordingly as heatwaves get longer and hotter. Heatwaves over a certain temperature also bring concerns about the effect on infrastructure, in particular the power grid being overloaded, as well as interruption to transport systems. Livestock is also set to be adversely affected by sustained periods of extreme heat, along with crops. The report offers a range of suggestions to mitigate the effects of heatwaves, while specifically not dealing with the underlying effects of climate change. It recommends electricity providers put measures in place to reduce network demand during periods of system stress, and for future infrastructure projects to take extreme heatwaves into account for their design and planning. It also urges industries to develop clear policies for managing workers’ health and safety during extreme heatwaves and more generally across the warmer months of the year. Between 1900 and 2011, extreme heat was the cause of death for at least 4555 people across Australia, more than the number of deaths attributed to all other forms of natural disaster combined. |
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