Droughts, Floods, Fires & Oil Spills Plague Australia

Can Australia get a break? The people of this country have had enough. Devastating fires, droughts, floods and crocodile problems have already killed thousands of people, wiped out the livelihoods of many more and destroyed homes and businesses all over the country. Now, they’re dealing with an oil spill after a cargo ship got caught in cyclonic weather. Large slicks of oil mixed with fertilizer are washing up on beaches along the Sunshine Coast and at Moreton Island.

From Yahoo News:

As the cargo fell in huge swells caused by tropical cyclone Hamish, it punctured the ship’s hull, releasing 30 tonnes of oil into Moreton Bay, near Queensland’s state capital Brisbane.

A slick 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) long and two metres (6.6 feet) wide was washing onto popular tourist beaches as the maritime safety authority launched an investigation into what it said was the state’s worst spill in 30 years.

Watkinson said it would take more than a week to clean up the spill, with trucks and excavators removing contaminated sand from the beaches.

“(The oil) is quite heavy in some spots — I’ve just been down there for a walk myself and have come back and it’s caked all over over my thongs (flip-flops) and all over my feet,” said Marcoola beach lifeguard David McLean.

“As you walk along it sticks to the bottom of your shoe like glue.”

Even worse, experts say the fertilizer might cause algal blooms that could suffocate fish and kill natural habitats. Fertilizer seeping into the water is a major cause of ocean dead zones, vast areas of oxygen-starved water where most life can’t survive.

The spill is even bigger than first reported, and the beaches have now been declared ‘disaster zones’. National parks bore the brunt of the damage. So far, a handful of birds covered in oil are the only wildlife known to be affected, but wildlife authorities warn that it will get worse the longer the oil sits.

All this, and climate scientists warn that Australia will be among the first to see some of the most extreme effects of global warming. Scary. These are brave, hardy people, and they’ll fight to stay in their homes – but nobody could blame them if they decided to jump ship and head to another country.

Link [Yahoo News]
Photo credit: The Telegraph

Related Posts:

Human Hair Used to Clean Up Oil Spills
250,000 Gallon Oil Slick Spreads Toward Ireland
TVA Spill Update: Worried Residents and More Coal Spills
Aborigines of Australia will Feel Global Warming Most
Australia Wildfires Spurred Partially by Global Warming