In Australia, it has rained so much on the southeast coast this year that it is already starting to affect the mental health of the locals, says The British Broadcasting Company BBC (you will switch to another service).
Especially in the densely populated region of the state of New South Wales, the extreme weather conditions are painful: a few years ago we suffered from a very bad drought, in 2019–2020 we experienced record bushfires and wildfires, and now in the last couple of years the rains and floods have tested the residents and nature badly.
Although Australia has always been a country of extreme weather phenomena, according to experts, climate change is causing these extreme phenomena to intensify and become more frequent. The region is now experiencing the fourth major flood disaster this year alone. More than 30 people have already been killed in the floods and thousands of homes have been destroyed to the point of being uninhabitable.
Continuous, sometimes heavy rains have again led to extensive flooding outside the largest cities in New South Wales between October and November, Reuters news agency reports.
Local meteorologists also warn that worse may be yet to come, as the rains are expected to continue in the coming months. In the background, in addition to climate change, the weather phenomenon La Niña, which in Australia specifically increases the possibility of rains and hurricanes, has an effect in the background.
The Lachlan and Murrumbidgee rivers overflowed the banks
Last weekend, emergency officials evacuated people and livestock in the state of New South Wales, while flood walls made of sandbags were built to protect towns. According to the Reuters news agency, more than a hundred flood warnings had been issued across the state.
In Forbes, located in the countryside, about a five-hour drive from Sydney, the Lachlan River had flooded, leaving numerous residential buildings and businesses under water. The Lachlan River was expected to rise to its highest level in 70 years as a result of the flooding.
The level of the Murrumbidgee River near the Wagga Wagga area of about 70,000 people also rose higher than in a decade.
The state minister responsible for flood damage Steph Cooke warned that even though the rains in the region have subsided at least momentarily, especially the villages and towns located downstream of the rivers were still in danger of being flooded.
Eastern Australia is now experiencing its fourth major flood disaster this year alone. Thousands of people have been left homeless and the general agricultural industry in the region has suffered huge damages.
The authorities have announced an emergency package of at least two billion Australian dollars, or about 1.3 billion euros, either to restore homes destroyed by the flood or, in some cases, to move out of flood-prone areas.
Experts: Mental health on the test
Interviewed by the British Broadcasting Company BBC of Rebecca Gray it feels like it’s been raining all year in Sydney, Australia. And he is not particularly wrong.
“I feel like I live my days as a marmot. I wake up and it’s raining and it’s dark and it’s cold, again and again and again.”
Sydney’s Rebecca Gray for the BBC
So far this year, it has rained in Sydney on about 170 days, so there have been more rainy days than dusty ones. And even though there is still a year to go, the city already broke the annual rainfall record last month.
– And not only did we pass it by a hair’s breadth, but the record was completely smashed. I have never seen anything like this, commented the meteorologist of the Australian broadcasting company ABC Tom Saunders for the BBC. A total of more than 2.3 meters of water has rained in the city this year.
And the weather really affects the “national mood”, says the researcher and clinical psychologist Kim Felmingham for the BBC.
According to Felmingham, continuous rains first have a biological effect, when cloudy weather blocks sunlight – which not only reduces the amount of serotonin, known as the happiness hormone, but also affects sleep. The rain also results in changes in behavior: it may reduce people’s going outside, which reduces movement and, on the other hand, also social contacts, both of which have an impact on well-being.
Mental health professionals warn that the consequences of consecutive extreme events, droughts, bushfires and floods on the mental health of the region’s residents can be dramatic.
– People don’t get the chance to recover sometimes, comments the clinical psychiatrist Cybele Dey From Doctors for the Environment Australia to the BBC. According to Dey, especially for people who have faced several natural disasters, it’s not just about the sum of the effects, but they also increase in interest.
In 2020, i.e. several disasters ago, the whole thing was done Australia wide survey (you will switch to another service) revealed that 55 percent of respondents had experienced at least one natural disaster. Due to the disasters of recent years, the number has probably increased.
In the same study, it turned out that one out of four respondents had a traumatic stress disorder caused by encountering a natural disaster.
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Such problems will follow if the Earth warms by two degrees and not just one and a half degrees