INSURANCE INCREASES HIT US ALL

THREE years after the 2019 flood event in Townsville a new report released by the Insurance Council of Australia identifies the need for an overhaul of the rules governing how and where new homes are built to protect Australians from “worsening floods”.

Well isn’t that a master bit of information something that longterm residents of Townsville and other flood prone and flood plains towns and cities have known for most of their lives. There is a slogan when road and bridges are under water “if it’s flooded forget it”. It’s a pity that this rule doesn’t apply to councils and town planners to stop them approving subdivisions of land that has a history of flooding.

The word history was a subject I really liked when I spent a brief period at school.

I find that we can learn so much from happenings in the past, especially about the weather. Floods, cyclones, bushfires, hot, cold, records have been documented since European settlement, which only goes back to 234 years.

This new report states worsening floods pointing to “climate change”, which seems to be the big escape from any responsibility for many of the terrible decisions made by council and their planners. Some bright spark said the 2019 flood in Townsville was a one in 2000 year event – not worth a comment? When did Noah built the Ark?

I came to Townsville in 1956 and people spoke of the 1946 flood and from all accounts it was a much bigger event than the 2019 flood. Not so much structural damage as 2019, but then people didn’t build houses in swamps and other low lying areas and most houses were built on stilts of various heights out of the flood reach and so much cooler.

An interesting event of the 1946 flood, it was followed by a major drought lasting 11 months. It stopped raining early March 1946 and didn’t rain again until

February 1947.

Was that global warming or climate change? No that’s called history.

I would recommend that these climate change alarmists look into some weather charts and recording going back to as far as possible.

The 1893 flood in Brisbane revealed some astonishing rain falls in the Brisbane River catchment. Google it. You will find records that have never been broken.

I feel so sorry for the people who have had their homes destroyed by floods when they are unaware that their prime place of real estate is flood prone.

Tides also can cause flooding. All this lack of proper planning leads to insurance rises for all of us. GEORGE YARDLEY,

Alice River.