Australia on fire/under water

Fuck. I've always said Mother Nature was going to get us back for mistreating her so badly for so long and it looks like she is and her first target is Australia. Victoria is on fire and so far 130+ people have perished. This isn't a poverty-stricken part of Australia, or even what you would call rural. It's just outside Melbourne and I have friends and family in that region. The family of my mum's best friend, Auntie Marylin, have been battling blazes, not all of them successful (their houses and all their belongings lost). It's worse than Ash Wednesday which very nearly destroyed the town I was born and grew up in when I was just a baby. And the thought they may have been lit by firebugs? Beyond my comprehension.

And yet in Northern Queensland (that's the state I live in, in case you didn't know) there are floods that have lasted days and may last weeks. While not as deadly as the Victorian fires these floods have destroyed homes and families are running out of food because all major roads are closed. This is only a few months after Brisbane was almost flattened by severe storms that wiped out some of our Northern suburbs in a few short hours.

I really don't know what to say except I'm worried about what's going to happen next and hope so badly that the fires will be contained and flooding will end so people can stop dying and go back to their normal lives.

When I get paid this week think I will donate some money to these guys.