2010–2011 Queensland floods
A series of floods hit Queensland, Australia, beginning in November 2010. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least 90 towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was estimated at A$1 billion before it was raised to $2.38 billion. The estimated reduction in Australia's GDP is about A$30 billion. As of March 2012, there were 33 deaths attributed to the floods, with a further three people still missing.
A woman trapped on the roof of her car awaits rescue during the Toowoomba flash flood
NASA image showing swollen rivers and cloud cover.
Rockhampton seen from the air on 31 December; the Fitzroy River can be seen to have burst its banks
View of the swollen Fitzroy River, which surrounds the western half of Rockhampton
A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civil engineering and public health. Human changes to the environment often increase the intensity and frequency of flooding. Examples for human changes are land use changes such as deforestation and removal of wetlands, changes in waterway course or flood controls such as with levees. Global environmental issues also influence causes of floods, namely climate change which causes an intensification of the water cycle and sea level rise. For example, climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent and stronger. This leads to more intense floods and increased flood risk.
Urban flooding in a street in Morpeth, England
View of flooded New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Flooding of a creek due to heavy monsoonal rain and high tide in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Flood in Jeddah, covering the King Abdullah Street in Saudi Arabia