Not even floods break the drought some questions about the drought?

Question

despite there being floods in some parts of australia we are still in drought, and I've been researching but haven't been able to find out much on how much rain it's gonna take to break this drought cause I don't know about anyone else but the higher price of everything due to the drought is really smashing my budget to smithereens.

where are in Australia are you? how much rain have you had this week? how is the drought affecting you? and when do you think the drought is going to break and how much rain is it going to take to break it?

Answer 1

The so called drought is a load of bull. I live in Murray Bridge, south australia. The water level has dropped immensly.

It has rained a lot, and like you said there is flooding in other states.

What is wrong with treating this storm water and diverting it to catchments? If they did, then the damns would be full and we wouldn't have this crisis.

There is so much empty land in this country, build underground storage tanks on it. The government is ruining our childrens future.

Aaaaargh. Sorry i'm getting to worked up to continue.

Answer 2

Floods tend to be localised, so even a dramatic deluge may only offer drought relief to a small area. An example would be here in the US recently with extensive flooding in Iowa and Missouri... while drought conditions persist in Alabama and Georgia. As I understand it, drought cycles in Australia used to run in 20-25 year intervals. But now, it seems, that has been shortened to 2 years or so. The "real" drought there should begin in 2010. Meanwhile, the water levels in the Murray and Darling rivers are dwindling. Some argue it to be partially a result of upstream dams. Whatever the case, it appears the drought in Australia may get only worse. Sorry!

Answer 3

I'm in Sydney.

The bad news is, the drought is never really going to break.  At best it will ease for periods.

This, is the result of global warming.

Prices aren't going to come down, because even as rain comes, the farmers will have to keep the prices up in preparation for the next drought.

On top of this, oil is only going to rise, and coal fired power is going to go up due to carbon trading.  This will put your power bill up, plus you will have to pay the excess in retailers power bills, the same increased petrol prices put produce prices up.

**edit**

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that farmers set the price we buy in the supermarkets.  We don't buy directly from the farmer.  It's pretty basic logic the price is set by the reseller.

The point I was making, and if you're from a farm, you should know this, produce is not going to be sold to the chains at a price lower than what it costs to produce.  This is common sense, if a farmer, (or any manufacturer for that matter) sold their produce at price lower than it cost to produce, they would quickly go bankrupt.

I AM NOT IMPLYING FARMERS ARE LINING THEIR POCKETS.  Please don't misinterpret me on this point.  I'm simply saying cost price will continue to rise.  The supermarket chains are unwilling to loose their profit share, so retail prices will continue to rise.