File:Brisbane river aftermath ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald.jpg

Brisbane river is full of water at last! So needed rain fell on the east coast of Australia. Well, may be too much at once, after all that drought and bushfire we had in December and January, but Nature does not ask. If you live in tropics, you would expect Tropical Cyclones in the wet season, would not you? This Cyclone Oswald is really amazing, as it "rolled over" all Australia East coast from very top of Gulf of Carpentaria on 21th of January and finishing off now (30th Jan.) 5000km south in Tasmania. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-28/storm-system-trapped-on-australian-mainland/4487588" rel="nofollow">Explanation here on ABC by weather expert</a>

According to the water gauge at my garden we had almost 400mm of rain over 2 days (mean rainfall for January is ~150mm), it was the long weekend of Australia Day. This rain was accompanied with stormy wind. With water level in the river risen and almost 250,000 homes without power on 27th Jan, (Brisbane population is over 2 millions), Brisbane was declared as a "disaster zone". But there are only 100 houses inundated. In January 2011 all this grassy area on the photo was much under water (see photo below), and 22,000 homes were flooded in Brisbane then.