Australia in the fury of floods with homes in Melbourne flooded, forecast says rivers will remain dangerously high for days

Melbourne happens to be the second-most populous city of Australia. Its population is around 5 million. The authorities advised some residents to move out of the suburb in northwest of Melbourne. There are similar instructions for hundreds in the Victoria state cities of Benalla and Wedderburn. Hundreds of homes in Victoria were flooded and many more remain isolated by floodwater. In the words of Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews - most of the state was experiencing a “very, very, significant rainfall event and it comes, of course, with the ground completely sodden.” The forecast of the Met department is of more rain throughout the next six-to-eight week period. Obviously, people will have to endure the situation for some more time. Daniel Andrews also mentioned about many homes without power. Homes Inundated by Swollen Rivers in Australian Floods. The State Emergency Service carried out more than 100 flood rescues in Victoria in the past 48 hours.

Last month the Bureau of Meteorology declared that a La Niña weather pattern, usually associated with above-average rainfall in eastern Australia, was underway in the Pacific. It said that the La Niña event may peak during the current Southern Hemisphere spring and return to neutral conditions early next year. Incidentally, La Niña is the cooler flip side of the better-known drying El Niño pattern. It is the third La Niña since 2019 when Australia became the hottest and driest year on record. That year witnessed wildfires fueled by drought that directly or indirectly led to the death of hundreds of people, destruction of hundreds of homes and loss of millions of acres of woods, farmland and city fringes. Sydney, the capital of New South Wales and the largest city of Australia beat its 1950 record last week to make 2022 its wettest-ever year.

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Britain has two semifinalists in 2016 Australian Open - Johanna Konta and Andy Murray

#JohannaKonta #AndyMurray #AusOpen Britain have two Grand Slam singles semi-finalists for the first time since 1977 in 2016 Australian Open - it will be the first time since 1977. Victories by Johanna Konta, ranked 47th, and Andy Murray have ensured this unique situation. Konta won 6-4 6-1 over China's Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals in one hour and 22 minutes. Fellow Briton Andy Murray (28) outplayed Spain's David Ferrer 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-3 to reach his sixth Melbourne semi-final in three hours and 49 minutes.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 27 January 2016.

Johanna Konta will now face German seventh seed Angelique Kerber while Andy Murray, the Scot, seeded second, will play Canada's Milos Raonic on Friday.
Konta and Murray have matched the achievement of semi-finalist Sue Barker and runner-up John Lloyd, who had both reached the last four at the Australian Open 39 years ago.
Incidentally, Konta is the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since Jo Durie made the US Open last four in 1983. Her achievements so far have guaranteed her prize money of at least £370,000 and could help her secure her a place in the world's top 30.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Melbourne is most liveable city for last 5-years – no Indian city in top 10

The city of Melbourne in Australia continues to remain the most liveable city in the world for the 5th year in a row – the ranking is given by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) which assigns the Global Livability Index.
The EIU annual rankings focus on living conditions in 140 cities across the globe and marks are allotted based on certain parameters that cover five broad categories like stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.
This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 19 August 2015.

Melbourne scored perfect 100 in healthcare, education, and infrastructure and within the culture and environment basket. It also scored a perfect 100 on sport. These highlight that the Victorian Government is committed to continued investment in these priority areas.
The rankings began in 2002 and Melbourne has remained in the top five cities continuously – and, for last 5-years, it has been in the top spot.
Other rankings are – Vienna (2), Vancouver (3), Toronto (4), Adelaide and Calgary (5) At the other end of the spectrum are the last 5 - Tripoli (136), Lagos (137), Port Moresby (138), Dhaka (139) and Damascus (140).
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Melbourne police foil a terror attack planned by a teenager for Mother’s Day

Australian police in Melbourne have arrested a 17-year-old boy for planning a terror attack on Mother’s Day thereby foiling the attempt to detonate three bombs in the city. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 9 May 2015.
The police conducted the raid on the house in Greenvale based on a tipoff and recovered explosive devices – like crude pipe bombs – along with computer equipment which was also seized. Later, the explosives were made safe by the bomb squad in a nearby park.

As per media reports, the attacks, or series of attacks, had been planned for Sunday – celebrated as Mother's Day in Australia.
The teenager had recently dropped out of school and, it is possible that he might have been radicalized quickly. It seems he had begun to spend more time on the internet in his bedroom. The parents of the teenager apparently had some hints about him but were unaware of the extent of his withdrawal.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described the threat as "very serious" and has indicated that a number of raids had been conducted in Sydney and Melbourne and there is evidence of a bomb plot that was in a reasonably advanced state of preparation.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan has added that timely intervention by the authorities had saved many lives.

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Hundreds of koalas euthanized in Cape Otway to prevent starvation deaths

#CapeOtway #Koalas #DeakinUniversity #Melbourne With an unprecedented increase in the population of koalas in the manna gum woodlands in Victoria, the wildlife officials have euthanize 686 of the animals near the Great Ocean Road during 2013 and 2014 s reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 4 March 2015.
It seems many of the koalas were starving and, hence, were killed via lethal injection after being captured in trees. The government is working out options on how best to tackle starvation in the koala habitat at Cape Otway, about 230-Km southwest of Melbourne.
Three emergency welfare operations were held in which the veterinarians captured and sedated koalas to assess their health. Accordingly, those koalas that were suffering from starvation were euthanized and the healthy ones were set free back into the wild. In addition, the healthy females were treated with control hormone implants.
Koala expert Dr Desley Whisson, from Deakin University, has explained that the problem in the manna gum woodland at Cape Otway began after koalas were introduced to the area in the 1980s from French Island. The manna gum is a very good food source for koalas because it is low in toxins and high in nutrients and, hence, the koalas love it. As a result, they do not move elsewhere for the food supply and their numbers keep increasing.
On a rough estimate, there are up to 11 koalas per hectare in Cape Otway whereas the sustainable density should be less than one koala per hectare.