Record rainfall levels across Queensland is causing havoc for builders, as construction timelines blow out and labour shortages continue.
Bureau of Meteorology have just released a new climate report that points to the big wet in NSW and Queensland extending for months. The Special Climate Statement reveals that the 2022 southeast Queensland flood peaks haven’t been seen since 1893. More than 50 locations in the region registered over a metre of rain between February 22 and March 9 with some areas experiencing two and a half times their average monthly rainfall and others five times the amount.
More recent heavy downpours across Queensland during May have caused the state’s sixth major flood event since December with a combined death toll of 28, as rain continues to fall on already saturated catchments.
The La Niña event, already in its second year, could yet persist into a third, with modelling showing it likely that eastern Australia will face more heavy rain and floods through Winter.
BOM forecaster Steve Hadley said the wet weather was abnormal for this time of year and was likely to persist.
“The rainfall is quite unusual for May but as we can see, we’ve been in this pattern where we are getting rainfall right now due to the weather systems that are coming through at the moment,” he said.
“The climate outlook for the next three months is perhaps for that wetter-than-average weather to continue over most of Queensland.”
The weather event is causing havoc for the local building industry, with construction being delayed and flood repair work piling up.
Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) chief executive Brett Schimming said building work across the region was likely to be delayed by a new wave of demand associated with urgent flood rebuild work.
“CSQ is assessing the impact that this new surge of building work is going to have on existing workbooks and skills demand.
“Undoubtedly, there will be delays, and understandably the flood-recovery work is time-critical. People need to be able to get back into their homes and for those homes to be restored to a liveable condition.”
https://www.buildaustralia.com.au/news_article/queensland-floods-likely-to-delay-construction-labour-relief/
https://thewest.com.au/news/weather/qld-nsw-rainfall-records-tumble-in-2022-c-6929224
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-20/qld-weather-rain-forecast-bom-saturated-south-east-queensland/101068422