It's a long-running joke that Australia is a country which switches between flood and drought at the drop of a hat, but this past weekend has been a particularly chilling example of just how extreme this continent can get. While North Queensland has been buried under water, Victoria has burned. A cocktail of deadly conditions - heat, dryness and high winds - have led to many parts of the state of Victoria being swept by intense bushfires. A recent estimate has over 130 people dead and many hundreds of homes destroyed. Some entire towns have been incinerated, leaving nothing but blackened wastelands.
Here in Sydney, halfway between these two disasters, we've been mercifully spared the pain.
My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been affected by these disasters. If you are unaffected, as I am, then it would mean a lot to me if you could donate to the Victorian Bushfire Appeals being run by the Salvation Army and Red Cross. |
