Australia plans to establish "reliable" warning network after 2022 flood season

CANBERRA, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced funding to establish a national and reliable flood warning network.

Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water, and Murray Watt, Minister for Emergency Management, on Monday said 236 million Australian dollars (157.2 million U.S. dollars) will be spent over the next decade on the National Flood Warning Infrastructure Network to protect communities from disasters.

The funding will be used to purchase and upgrade flood gauges, with those in Queensland - the country's most disaster-affected state - to be prioritized.

"Severe weather events, including floods, are becoming more extreme and more frequent," Plibersek said in a statement.

"Reliable flood warnings will help Australians prepare for moments of extreme weather. It will keep people safer as they happen."

It comes after much of Australia's east coast was hit by floods in 2022.

Parts of Queensland and New South Wales received more than a year's worth of rain over a matter of days in February and March, causing one of the country's worst flood disasters.

Studies had previously found that the patchwork nature of the flood gauge network would increase risk during floods.

Inquiries into the 2022 floods also recommended that the federal government upgrade and assume responsibility for the network.

Watt said the investment would guarantee the gauges are reliable.