BOM warning: Brace for further rain and flooding

Parts of eastern Australia should expect to see more rain and flooding in the coming months, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), with another La Nina pattern also predicted to form later this year.

As reported by the Australian Associated Press, forecasts by the BOM showed that the months of August to October will bring above average rainfall in Queensland down to the south coast of NSW, as well as parts of the Northern Territory.

There is also an elevated flood risk in these areas, said the BOM, considering that previous flooding events have caused the ground to be more saturated with moisture and kept water levels in catchment areas high.

Additionally, the BOM warned that there is a 50% chance or twice the normal likelihood of a third successive La Nina weather event occurring this year.

“While back-to-back La Nina’s are not uncommon, and in fact, we get them about half the time, since 1900, a three-year La Nina is less common,” Andrew Watkins, head of long-range forecasting, told The Guardian. “We’ve only seen that three times since the middle of last century.”

The La Nina pattern contributed to the heavy rains experienced by parts of eastern Australia earlier this year, causing widespread flooding in Queensland and NSW. This flooding event was later named Australia’s third costliest natural disaster by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

“The sheer scale of the extreme weather event that devastated Queensland and NSW is something we have never seen before, and the cost continues to rise,” said ICA CEO Andrew Hall last month. “Money is flowing into these devasted communities, with $1.5 billion already paid, and this number [is] increasing every day.”