Worst Natural Disaster in Australia's History

That is what they are calling it.

If you have been living under a rock, you may not be aware that there are the worst bushfires (wildfires to our American friends) raging in Australia currently. You will recall I posted the other day about crazy heatwaves, well these fires are the end result of that weather pattern.

There are news stories all over the Australian papers if you want to read more. Here is a link to just one story in the main Adelaide paper - http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25023105-5006301,00.html.

That story is reporting more than 300,000 hectares have been burnt, which (if my math is correct) works out to be almost 1,200 square miles. The death toll has been slowly climbing over the weekend, the number is now likely to exceed 200 before it is all over and done with.

So far (knock on wood) we are not aware of anyone that we know being dramatically affected, but as you can imagine it is still chaos in some areas, so fingers crossed. And Australia with its population size, there is barely 4 degrees of separation between you and anyone else, so even if no one we know is directly affected, I am sure we will hear friends-of-friends type stories in the coming days.

There has been one significant fire near Adelaide, but way out on the north side of the city, so a long way from my Mum's house and most of the rest of my family lives on the south side of the city as well.

There has actually been "significant" (well, compared to the usual level of none) coverage of the fires on the US media. I think I have seen video footage every night for about the last 4 nights or so.

Our thoughts are with our Australian friends and family. Be safe. You can replace property, you cannot replace a life.