MELBOURNE, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Scientists are warning that Australia must prepare for clusters of natural disasters as extreme weather events increasingly strike in quick succession, not in isolation.
Scientists describe these as "compound or overlapping hazards" when bushfires, storms, floods, and heatwaves are "no longer neatly separated by season or geography," but strike simultaneously or in close succession before recovery can occur, according to an article published on The Conversation website on Thursday.
Recent examples include simultaneous bushfires and flash floods in the state of Victoria in January, forcing emergency crews to shift from fire suppression and evacuation to flood rescues, said the article by Zahra Shahhoseini, research fellow from Australia's Monash University.
The author also cited a December cyclone in the state of Western Australia that brought flash flooding and widespread power outages, followed days later by a heatwave prompting fire danger warnings. In the state of New South Wales, hailstorms hit communities still recovering from bushfires in late 2024.
Emergency services are finding such events harder to manage as warnings sometimes conflict and resources are stretched across multiple fronts, the article said.
Studies covering more than five decades of insurance losses show that Australia experiences the most overlapping hazards in December, January and February, when bushfire, tropical cyclone and severe storm seasons coincide, making summer the most high-risk period.
Experts say climate change is amplifying these risks, acting as a "threat multiplier" that drives more frequent and intense events. They warn that overlapping hazards will only become more common in a warming climate. ■