Queensland: Tropical cyclones and large amounts of river flooding have ravaged the eastern part of Australia. Queensland has faced over 80 natural disasters in the last decade, totaling more than $16 billion in damages.
Tropical cyclones occur in some parts of Australia, mainly Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Texas witnessed 368 major disasters from 1953 through 2022, according to MoneyWise, the most of any state. The recent standout is 2017's Hurricane Harvey, which had more than $125 billion in damage — most of it from catastrophic flooding in Texas.
1. Cyclone Mahina 1899. The deadliest cyclone in Australian history, and probably the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result of the cyclone, settlers found fish, sharks and dolphins several kilometres inland, and rocks embedded into trees.
When was the last tsunami in Australia? According to the Bureau of Meteorology's (BoM's) records, the last tsunami waves to hit Australia arrived on March 11, 2011.
2.12 Australia has a naturally variable climate, [6] with temperature and rainfall fluctuating from season to season and year to year. It is common for large parts of the country to move from hot, dry conditions (heatwaves and droughts) to cool, wet conditions (often associated with floods).
Generally, Australia gets tornadoes all over NSW and Victoria, as well as the southwestern part of Western Australia. There is a distinct spatial geography to where tornadoes occur around the world.
Counties in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah have the lowest risk of environmental peril, according to a recent study from CoreLogic, a real estate data firm. The study analyzed the risk of natural disasters over the next 30 years, to the nation's 154 million properties.
Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage is the safest place to avoid natural disaster in the entire United States. It ranks in the top 1% of the country for its low risk of hurricanes, tornados, drought and cold or heat waves. It also has the lowest risk index rating for lightning, landslides and strong winds.
Vast floodplains are found in central and western New South Wales and Queensland and in parts of Victoria and Western Australia. When heavy rainfall causes rivers in these areas to overflow, floodwaters can spread over thousands of square miles (or square kilometers).
Thunderstorms are most frequent over the northern half of the country, and generally decrease southward, with lowest frequencies in southeast Tasmania. A secondary maximum is also apparent in southeast Queensland and over central and eastern New South Wales, extending into the northeastern Victorian highlands.
Queensland and New South Wales residents were the most likely to have experienced multiple disasters since 2019. Of those polled in Queensland and NSW, more than a third in both states had experienced multiple flooding events – compared to 13% in Victoria, 5% in Western Australia and 4% in South Australia.
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was probably the first natural disaster that shaped the viewpoint of natural and geophysical phenomena as the agents responsible for a natural disaster [19].
Perth's natural hazard history includes damaging earthquakes, tropical cyclones, cool-season storms, thunderstorms, bushfires, riverine and flash floods, often accompanied by related phenomena such as storm surge, tornadoes, hail, lightning and dust storms.
Natural disasters in Victoria include fires, floods, heatwaves, earthquakes, storms or tsunami. The Victoria State Emergency Service (SES) responds to emergencies caused by floods, storms, tsunamis and earthquakes.
Australia, however, is in the middle of a large continental plate, called the Indo-Pacific Plate. Here, there are far fewer small fault planes and no major fault lines. This means big earthquakes are uncommon.
A large tsunami affecting Australia is unlikely but possible. Remember that tsunamis are a sequence of waves that may occur over hours to days, and the biggest wave in the sequence could occur at any time.
Several significant tsunamis have been observed along the Queensland coast resulting in communities retreating to higher land.
Tsunami can happen in Australia and can damage our shores, even if they start far out at sea. They appear somewhere around the world about once every two years, but are a little threat to Queensland's coastal communities in terms of major flooding.