"The amount of wildlife lost must also be staggering, along, of course, with its habitat."

Yes, that's the terrible thing. Dry eucalyptus forest is kind of geared up for fires - regenerates quickly - but 200 year-old trees in rainforests don't - unless you've got a spare 200 years and no further impact from invasive species and/or fires scheduled.

Good news is that some decent storms are starting to stir. Has felt like it's going to be an 'ends-with-a-bang' ordeal - this might be the bang part. Some black on the radar which indicates severe storms - smallish tornadoes are quite possible along with large hailstones. Here there's distant thunder and lightning - but a lot - wind picking up. It's heading vaguely our way but will be hit or miss - similar last night with a narrow miss resulting.