Robin, you may want to check back on weather conditions in 1974. I just did a quick scan and it looks like typhoon and flooding were at record levels then, though moreso on your neighbors on Oz.

Wiser weatherheads here are saying that our tornado activity is highest since 1974...........when Pacific weather conditions were most like they are this year. Of course we've got bubbleheads that whine about "global warming", though in 1975 these same kind of charlitans were whining about the imminent ice age they were predicting. The more things change the more they seem the same.......