I love my country, but....

 
How much is one (admittedly large) island supposed to handle?

The weather and various climate dealies here have been ridiculous. As you know, I'm sure, Queensland and Victoria (and little bits of New South Wales, where I live) have been inundated by incredible floodwaters recently, Perth in Western Australia has just dealt with fires, and over the past few days the temperature has been just stupid. I mean, I know it's summer and we're known for the heat, but yesterday NSW clocked temps of up to 50C...That's 122F for the rest of you. That's in suburbia, never mind rural areas. Also, yesterday was a great day for our aircon to die.

But there is a much bigger, scarier threat approaching the coast of Queensland -- Cyclone Yasi. I like the name, lol, bit more ethnic for a multicultural country, but it really is no laughing matter. QLD is known for tropical cyclones and some of them have gotten pretty hairy in the past, but this is slated to be the most dangerous cyclone in recent generations. Yasi has been measured by satellite images and is supposed to be 500km (310 miles) wide, with the eye being between 80-100km across. It'll have an eventual wind speed of up to 300km/h (186m/h). Want to hear the worst of it? This cyclone is supposed to gather enough energy to power the earth for one whole year...

Yasi is due to hit late tonight and people were being instructed not to pack up their homes, just leave. However, in certain areas of Queensland it is now too late to evacuate -- people just have to sit tight and hope for the best.

I'm beginning to hope that this thing loses some of its puff before it hits the coast.

So, fires, floods, cyclones, incredible heat...I'm waiting for locusts and boils, that's all I'll say.

Send your best thoughts to our poor country.