The quest to beat floodwaters in Australia

cheap nike running shoesAustralia's notoriously wild weather has inflicted blistering heat-waves on the west coast in recent months, while dumping unprecedented rainfall in the east.To protect communities from natural disasters, engineers are exploring the dynamics of floodwaters using a unique 60 sq m concrete and wooden replica of a district of Newcastle, a busy port north of Sydney that is prone to serious inundation. A team from the Water Research Laboratory at the University of New South Wales hopes the three dimensional model will help better shield homes and businesses from flash flooding, as well as improve evacuation procedures."The water goes barrelling down Morgan Street in Merewether…and takes a left hand turn and then travels through a residential area," explains engineer Grantley Smith, as the miniature suburb is swamped by simulated flooding.The experiment depicts an area that researchers say is typical of other flood-affected towns and cities across Australia, and it is providing data that computer analysis cannot. "You could appreciate that getting out and measuring flows in a real flood is difficult to do for two reasons; one is that floods can happen very quickly, so you have to be well prepared and on the spot to collect that data, but also it is very dangerous," says Mr Smith.
 

nike free run shoes"So we use the physical model to give us information about flow distributions and flow velocities in a very detailed way through this representative flood plain that we have built to improve the techniques that you use to apply numerical models." The project replicates the appalling impact of a one-in-200-year storm that pounded Newcastle in 2007, when mountainous waves forced a coal freighter, the Pasha Bulker, to run aground on a city beach. Flood memories Not far away, Marcello Capone was returning home as the streets started filling with water."It was just chaos. People were abandoning their cars," the 50-year-old teacher said. The floodwaters rose so rapidly that Mr Capone and his two children were forced to take refuge in a garage loft. As their neighbourhood disappeared under the murky tide, they ventured out in a small, inflatable dinghy."We were the only boat running around the streets. It was quite amusing for a while, until we then realised there were people in distress. We helped ferry many people to the bowling club, which was elevated. It's a day I'll never forget," he said.On 8 June 2007, thunderstorms roared through the Hunter and Central Coast regions of New South Wales, causing damage estimated at $1.35bn (US$1.41bn; ￡891.54m).

nike shox r4In just six hours, 164mm of rain fell on Newcastle, and the emergency services were overwhelmed by thousands of calls for help. 'Terrifying experience' Barbara Gaudry, a former Newcastle city councillor whose home was damaged in the deluge, recalls a frightening time. "We live on a highly urbanised flood plain which is really vulnerable to flooding, and fortunately, the flooding occurred after school had finished for the day because I think there would have been the potential for a great loss of life. It was a terrifying experience for a lot of people," she said.Almost five years on, Mrs Gaudry worries that Newcastle has still not done enough to safeguard the community. "We're still in a state on unpreparedness," she insists. "With climate change, there are predictions of much more intense rainfall, storms and flash flooding, and so cities like Newcastle need to be prepared for that. "We're allowing development to occur where it shouldn't, and we're not taking the precautions that we should be."Authorities across Australia face the huge task of insulating cities and towns from the continent's capricious weather. Officials in Newcastle say that $40m (US$ 42; ￡26) is being spent on a "complete flood warning system", which would include refuges and stricter controls on development, but they concede that "flood proofing" the entire city is an "impossible task".The research at the University of New South Wales is part of a $20m (US$ 42; ￡18) overhaul of the Australian Rainfall and Runoff Guidelines, funded by the federal government. It provides technical information for designing infrastructure to withstand extreme downpours and flooding, but is considered by engineers to be largely out of date.

cheap nike shox shoesChina and the US have agreed to co-ordinate their response to any "potential provocation" if North Korea goes ahead with a planned rocket launch, the White House says. North Korea says the long-range rocket will carry a satellite. The US says any launch would violate UN resolutions and be a missile test.US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao met on the margins of a nuclear summit in South KoreaThe launch is scheduled for April.Its timing - between 12 and 16 April - is intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's late Great Leader Kim Il-sung.'Destabilising' The White House said Mr Hu indicated to Mr Obama that he was taking the North Korean issue very seriously and was registering China's concern with the government in Pyongyang."We both have an interest in making sure that international norms surrounding non-proliferation, preventing destabilising nuclear weapons, is very important," Mr Obama said ahead of the meeting. But a US national security official cast doubt on any change in Chinese policy, the Associated Press reported."China has expressed those concerns before and North Korea has continued on with its behaviour," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said, according to AP."Therefore, China needs to look at whether it needs to be doing more above and beyond the types of messages and warnings it's been giving to the North Koreans."

cheap nike shox for menMr Hu said the North Korean issue was "very complicated and sensitive", the official Xinhua news agency reported."We do not hope to see a reversal of the hard-won momentum of relaxation of tension on the peninsula," Mr Hu said, according to Xinhua. On Sunday, Mr Obama criticised China for not being tough enough with North Korea, saying Beijing's approach was not working. Earlier, Mr Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said North Korea risked further sanctions and isolation if it did not cancel its launch plans.South Korea has warned it will shoot down the rocket if it strays over South Korean territory."We are preparing measures to track the missile's trajectory and shoot it down if it, by any chance, deviates from the planned route and falls into our territory," a defence ministry spokesman said. The launch site is in north-western North Korea, not far from the Chinese border. Deal suspended Last month, Pyongyang agreed to suspend long-range missile tests and uranium enrichment.The agreement was part of a deal for the United States to supply 240,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea.It also agreed to allow UN inspectors in, the US said. That deal has now been suspended.The overture from Pyongyang came three months after Kim Jong-un came to power in North Korea, following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

 nike shox nzNorth Korea last carried out a rocket launch three years ago, in April 2009, which it characterised as a test of satellite technology. It said the rocket made it into orbit, though the US and Japan said they had detected no such object. The UN Security Council then passed resolutions prohibiting the North from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.Foreign officials said there were no indications that a satellite had reached space and that the launch was a cover for Pyongyang to test long-range missile technology.Pyongyang responded to the UN resolutions by walking out of nuclear disarmament talks and carrying out a nuclear test weeks later. North Korea is believed to have more than 1,000 missiles of varying capabilities, including long-range missiles which could one day strike the US. Pyongyang's programme has progressed over the last few decades from tactical artillery rockets in the 1960s and 70s to short?-range and medium-range ballistic missiles in the 1980s and 90s. Systems capable of greater ranges are understood to be under research and development. According to the an independent think-tank, some of North Korea's missiles also have the capability to carry nuclear warheads. The country's missile programme has mainly been developed from the Scud.It first obtained tactical missiles from the Soviet Union as early as 1969, but its first Scuds reportedly came via Egypt in 1976. Egypt is believed to have supplied North Korea with missiles and designs in return for its support against Israel in the Yom Kippur War.

 cheap nike shox nzBy 1984, North Korea was building its own Scuds, the Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6, and a medium-range missile, the Nodong. Its latest missile combines these technologies to give a long-range missile, the Taepodong.In 2006 and 2009 it test-fired a new missile called the Taepodong-2, which experts say could have a range of many thousands of miles. The missile failed to perform on both occasions.North Korea is believed to be in possession of a variety of short-range missiles, such as the KN-02, which can reach up to 120km and could target military installations in neighbouring South Korea.The Hwasong-5 and Hwasong-6, also known as Scud-B and C, have longer ranges of 300km and 500km respectively, according to the These missiles can deliver conventional warheads, but may also have biological, chemical and nuclear capabilities.The Hwasong-5 and 6 have both been tested and deployed, defence experts believe, and would enable North Korea to strike any area in South Korea.Relations between the two Koreas are fraught and they remain, technically, in a state of war. The two countries never signed a peace treaty after an armistice ended their 1950-53 conflict. They are separated by one of the world's most heavily fortified borders and both have strong military capabilities.The institute believes the weapon is not accurate enough for effective use against military targets, such as US military bases in Japan. A March 2006 report by the US Center for Non-proliferation Studies, concluded it had a "circular error probable" of 2km to 4km, meaning that half the missiles fired would fall outside a circle of that radius.