Eyewitness Accounts Of An Unprecedented Disaster.
What struck Australia in 2011 was an unprecedented clash between two completely unconnected weather patterns— a perfect storm beyond the imagination of even the most creative meteorologist. In a strange convergence of truly wild weather, the easterly trade winds of El Nino, a periodic weather phenomenon, trapped warmer water against the Australian coast. Annual monsoonal rains amplified the effect to create a cataclysmic deluge that swept across drought-parched Queensland, devastating an area so large that only an army of eyewitnesses equipped with cell phones, video cameras, Facebook and YouTube could cover it.