In this piece of work I am going to look at the causes and effects of the floods in Australia 2010 and 2011. Australia is found in the Southern Hemisphere, lying to the south of South East Asia, and dividing the Indian and South Pacific Oceans. The main places affected by the floods were Brisbane and Queensland. The worst affected areas were those along the banks of the Burnett River and the Fitzroy River. The areas around the Fitzroy River flooded and forced a thousand people out of their homes in Theodore.
A series of floods hit Queensland, Australia, beginning in December 2010. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities. At least 70 towns and over 200,000 people were affected. Damage initially was estimated at around $1 billion before it was raised to $2.38 billion. Queensland is a state located in the northeastern part of Australia.
Queensland’s devastating floods are the result of heavy rains caused by two normally unconnected weather phenomena La Niña, a periodic interaction between the Pacific Ocean and the Earth’s atmosphere to the east of Australia.

An unexpected flash flood caused by a thunder storm raced through Toowoomba's central business district. Water from the same storm devastated communities in the Lockyer Valley. A few days later thousands of houses in Ipswich and Brisbane were inundated as the Brisbane River rose and Wivenhoe Dam used a considerable proportion of its flood mitigation capacity.

A flash flood occurs when heavy rain falls onto waterlogged ground. Rain cannot soak in because tarmac and concrete surfaces are impermeable rocks, this means that they will not allow water to pass through so it runs down into the river. The river rises dramatically and bursts its banks, flooding valley floor.

To prevent a flood from happening again they could build flood embankments, improve street drainage,