From the “they should put this picture in the Louvre” department:
Recent over-the-top wailings from the usual suspects have been blaming current climate change for the flooding in Paris. We already demonstrated how one statue and high watermarks tell the story, but this one from Kristine Mitchell and Julien Knez is even better.
More than 100 years ago, the Seine River rose a record breaking 8.6 m above usual levels, causing the catastrophe known as the 1910 Great Flood of Paris. Over the past week, as the picturesque streets of the French capital city began to submerge once again, artist Julien Knez was struck by the similar atmosphere of fear and awe brought on by water slowly creeping up over the river’s embankments. This time around, though water levels peaked at 6.10m, Knez images demonstrate the striking similarities between eras as the landmarks of Paris are transformed by river swell, back in 1910 and now in 2016.
Last time the river flooded, it ended up costing the city nearly $1.5 billion dollars in damages, and parts of the city were submerged for nearly two months. This time, flooding was fairly sudden, causing widespread closure of transportation and several famous museums including the Louvre and Musee d’Orsay. Masterpieces that were being stored in the basement of the former had to be moved elsewhere for protection, and thousands were evacuated from their homes. Even now, as water levels slowly return to normal in Paris, Knez’s photo comparisons capture the shocking power of nature as humans scramble to get out of its way.
There are many more similar comparisons here. Well worth a look. h/t to Harold Ambler who has a great book, Don’t Sell Your Coat
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Floods do re-occur as experience indicates in Brisbane -the sub -tropical capital city of the state of Queensland, located on Australia’s east coast.
Brisbane has in fact been inundated by six severe floods in the last 150 years: 1864, 1893, 1897, 1974 2011 and then again in 2014.
Indeed, the 1974 flood now looks to have been, at 77 years since the previous drenching, long overdue. The 1897 flood was preceded by another severe flood just 4 years before in 1893. Makes you think—there may be another flood coming sooner than we had expected in 2011-.as indeed happened again in 2014!
But this flood history did not prevent then leading Green Bob Brown in 2011 opportunistically suggesting that burning Queensland coal had contributed to the flooding in that year.
In other words the flooding was “our” man-made fault.
Well actually it was in 2011- but that was more to do with building development having been allowed on floodplains (plus it has been suggested some arguably ineffective high water management -which I will let the hydraulic engineers argue about) than so -called AGW