THE WILSONS RIVER broke its banks on the night of February 27th while Lismore, a town of around 30, 000 in New South Wales, was sleeping. Its residents slept through early-hours emergency 【小题1】 that “risk to life was approaching”. Within bours the town was submerged. Residents scrambled into their attics. Mothers carried children onto rooftops. An army of locals launched tin boats into the floods to save them. Four people died.

Eastern Australia has been 【小题2】 by what politicians call “once-in-1, 000-year” flooding. It has already had a rainy summer because of La Nia, a phenomenon which triggers downpours there. Brisbane, Queensland's capital, received almost 80% of its annual rainfall in less than a week in February, flooding 15, 000 homes. As the rain 【小题3】 northern New South Wales, it ripped up roads and drowned herds of cattle. Storms hit Sydney on March 8th, causing a dam to 【小题4】 over. Some 50, 000 people in the state have been forced to evacuate.

Scientists are careful when blaming floods on global warming because everything from rainfall to urban development contributes to them. Whatever the cause, extreme weather is now a regular 【小题5】 in Australia. In 2019 and 2020 vast lands of the country were torched in bushfires which destroyed more than 3, 000 homes and killed 33 people.

When disaster strikes, official aid is often slow to come. In 2019 the federal government set aside almost A$4bn ($2. 9bn) fora fund that would help it respond to 【小题6】 and relieve future ones. But it has spent 【小题7】 any of that money. It has now deployed the army and is dishing out cash to victims, but locals get angry that they were 【小题8】 for days without power or fuel as supplies of food and water shrank.

A debate now continues about how or even whether places like Lismore should rebuild. Analysts think the floods might trigger insurance 【小题9】 worth more than A$3bn. Premiums (保险费) are already so high in disaster-prone towns that many locals can no longer afford 【小题10】 . “If we are going to start thinking every time there's a natural disaster that we have to give up and leave because it's too hard, then where are we going to live?” asks Lismore's mayor, Steve Krieg. That is becoming a question for ever more Australians.

Flood-hit Venice’s shrinking population faces mounting problems

Venetians(威尼斯人) are fed up with what they see as inadequate responses to the city’s mounting problems: record-breaking flooding, environmental and safety threats from cruise ship traffic and the burden on services from over-tourism.

They feel largely left to their own devices, with ever-fewer Venetians living in the historic part of the city to【小题1】its interests and keep it from becoming mainly a tourist land.

The historic flooding this week---marked by three floods over 1.5 meters (nearly 5 feet) and the highest in 53 years at 1.87 meters(6 feet, 1 inch)---has【小题2】calls to create an administration that recognizes the uniqueness of Venice, for both its concentration of treasures and its【小题3】vulnerability.

Flood damage has been【小题4】estimated at hundreds of millions of Euros (dollars), but the true range will only become clear with time. The frustration goes far beyond the failure to complete and【小题5】78 underwater barriers that were designed to prevent just the kind of damage that Venice has【小题6】this week. With the system not yet completed or even【小题7】tested after 16 years of work and 5 billion Euros ($5.5 billion) invested, many are suspicious it will even work.

At the public level, proposals for better administering the city including【小题8】some level of autonomy(自制) to Venice, already enjoyed by some Italian regions like Trentino-Alto-Adige with its German-speaking minority, or offering tax【小题9】to encourage Venice’s repopulation.

Just 53,000 people live in the historic part of the city that tourists know as Venice, down by a third from a generation ago and dropping by about 1,000 people a year. That means fewer people watching the neighborhood, monitoring for public maintenance【小题10】or neighbors in need. Many leave because of the increased expense or the daily difficulties in living in a city of canals, which can make even a simple errand a hard journey.