Now folks in Australia are talking (sort of) about a once-in-thousand-year drought:

AUSTRALIA may be experiencing a one-in-a-1000-years drought, Prime Minister John Howard and the premiers were warned at the national water summit.

The half-day meeting accelerated water trading plans and ordered emergency work to protect town and city supplies.

The dire assessment of the drought came from Murray Darling Basin Commission official David Dreverman.

But Mr Howard was wary of endorsing such a dramatic judgement, instead saying it was “the worst drought in living memory”.