The great deluge report: Australia's new era of unnatural disasters

This publication is a report on the major disasters that occurred in Australia in 2022. This year has seen large parts of Eastern Australia experience record-breaking rainfall and floods. From Queensland down to Tasmania, extreme weather events have taken people’s lives, led to the evacuation of communities, damaged homes, belongings and businesses, destroyed crops and livestock, and saddled us with billions of dollars in rebuilding costs. Many communities were affected by not one, but multiple consecutive floods this year, with little to no time to recover after each one.

The report's key findings are:

1. 2022 will be remembered as the year of the Great Deluge, when rain and rolling floods swamped Eastern Australia breaking many records.
2. The danger to Australians from climate-fuelled extreme weather is far from over with experts warning that the summer ahead portends several high risks.
3. Queensland suffers the most economic damage from such disasters. The Sunshine State’s total losses from extreme weather since the 1970s were around three times those of Victoria and 50% greater than New South Wales.
4. This new era of climate-fuelled, unnatural disasters carries severe consequences for disaster and emergency management in Australia.
5. While Australian families, businesses and communities suffer through record-breaking climate disasters, the fossil fuel corporations that worsen climate change are making eyewatering profits.