There is a town about 200 miles north of where I live, called Echuca, which lies on the Murray River and has been flooding for over 20 days now ( Read more... )

   Today it rained very heavily, on top of the large amount of rain we've already gotten this season that has filled the lakes and ponds and saturated the ground. My housemate Trent called me at 16:12 this afternoon, he was trying to get out of Birregurra, the village we live in. As he described it two of three roads out of town were already ( Read more... )

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Friday, December 20th - At the end of a day that had reached 114f around the town of Heywood in Victoria near the South Australia border, a thunderstorm rolled in. Relief from the heat was hardly to be appreciated for long, as lightning strikes soon ignited several (at least 13 of note) major wildfires in the surrounding area. Though the next day ( Read more... )

   The pager's distinctive tone and buzz jolted Murray as if he'd touched an electric fence. He plunged his hand into his shorts' pocket and fished it out ( Read more... )

   The "St Patrick's Day Fires" are pretty much out now (there's still burning peat-bog but that stuff can go on for weeks, months, or I've heard even years), having burned 14,600 hectares (36,000 acres), and 24 houses. Fortunately no human fatalities (apparently a number of livestock got caught up in it ( Read more... )

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The siren wails, as we cruise through Birregurra's small downtown at a brisk but not reckless speed. From the high cab of the firetruck I see the people seated outside the cafes downtown look up as we go past. I'm seated behind the driver, trying to attach the neck-guard to my yellow helmet. Indeed I'd only just ripped the plastic off all my gear ( Read more... )