In The Land Down Under, Extreme Floods Rage

A house floats away during the current extreme flooding
in Australia, one year after devastating fires

 Australia can't seem to catch a break with their summers and early autumns.  

Last year, it was some of the worst wildfires in the nation's history.  This year, it's extreme flooding. 

This is the worst flooding Australia has seen in at least five decades. More than 18,000 people have been evacuated in New South Wales because of the high water, and that figure is expected to rise.  An area the size of Alaska is being affected by the flooding. 

Already, hundreds of homes have been damaged or destroyed by flooding. Video on social media shows some homes floating downstream in bloated rivers. As is usual with such widespread disasters, there were tales of absolute heartbreak.

One house widely broadcast floating down a river belonged to a couple who were to be married the day the home was destroyed.  Their pet dog was trapped in the house and presumably died. 

Wildlife was fleeing the flooding, too. In some areas, houses and property were covered by probably millions of spiders fleeing the high water. 

This will probably get a lot worse, as downpours are forecast to continue for the next several days.  As noted, the flooding is an example of extreme weather whiplash. 

At this time last year, the areas hard hit from the flooding were recovering from extreme wildfires that burned 7 percent of New South Wales in late 2019 and early 2020. s burned in wildfires. 

Videos:

Overview of the flooding situation:

First half of this video shows that house floating away:

It wasn't just humans fleeing the Australian flooding.  Check out all these spiders!