Australian floods
Hi everyone
I've had a few people contact me wanting to know if, given the floods that are hitting across the country, if I'm okay. Yes, I am.
The worst of the floods are up in Qld, which is a long way away. Closer to home, we have had some flash flooding across my state in the last 24 hours.
But in Queensland, the devastation has been immense.
Queensland, you have to understand is bigger in area than Alaska. It's more than two and a half times the size of Texas.
And 75% of the State has been declared a natural disaster area. That's bigger than Texas and California put together.
People's whole lives have been swept away - homes, businesses, their ability to earn a living in the foreseeable future.
Loss of animal life - stock and pets has been high. A lot of the shelters were accepting pets (thank God!), but in many cases people simply couldn't get them out - especially horses.
They believe that wildlife will take years to recover - small mammals like echidna and wombats will have drowned in their burrows, lizards and other reptiles will have had their breeding season disrupted, and lost eggs. Even kangaroos and wallabies who might have been able to swim to escape the flood are likely to die in large numbers - especially the young - because of the destruction of their feeding territories.
It's unbelievable what has happened, and how badly the country is going to be affected.
Please send all good thoughts and prayers, because, when people are going through such anguish, I truly believe that those things help to provide a light in the darkness of spirit.
Meanwhile, out of all the images of damp destruction, these two stand out like beacons.
The first is of a man who risked his own life to save a young kangaroo he saw struggling in the floods.
The second, perhaps even stranger, is of a small green frog, who is being carried safely through the flood waters on the back of a (poisonous) brown snake.
Amazing.
Seems like in a crisis, even the animals can help each other out.
It gives me hope.