The fires still burn and hazardous levels of smoke hang over us. We’ve had six deaths and lost 600 houses in NSW and Queensland since early August, and more than 1.8 million hectares have been burnt. More trouble looms in high summer.

Meanwhile a select committee of the NSW Legislative Council is investigating a flood matter – whether Warragamba Dam should be raised as a mitigation measure to protect those on the floodplain of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River. The committee holds a public hearing today.

Plans to raise the Warragamba Dam wall will encourage development on the flood plain. Credit:Wolter Peeters

It’s a moment to check on the relative costs created by two of the most damaging natural perils we face. As it happens floods have killed many more people than bush fires since European colonisation. And floods have cost more than bush fires in monetary terms too. Fire losses are rising, partly because people have opted for tree-changing lifestyles near the cities and in bush-and-farm settings inland from the coast.

Flood losses are rising too, but strong efforts in flood mitigation since the devastating floods of the mid-1950s have helped contain them. Many of our river valleys have smaller floodplain populations than they once did, and towns built on the rivers now have levee protection. But continued investment on farms and transport facilities and in towns whose levees have been overtopped means the financial damage remains high.