It was a bit like a first draft outline for a B-grade disaster movie plot.
At various points along the timeline of the first eleven days of December 2023 there was a heady cocktail of high surface temperatures across the continent, as well as high seas expected in coastal waters and flash flooding occurring after rain.
Drought and widespread heatwave conditions were occurring in New South Wales, extreme fire weather warning in Victoria's mallee district, wild winds, rain dumps and flooding in South Australia. And to top it all off, a tropical cyclone expected to reach landfall on Queensland's far north-east coast.
So it wouldn't have been unusual if thoughts of personal emergency plans didn't pop into our heads - especially as cost of living pressures mean that many household budgets are tight.
So can we afford to live off our own financial resources in the weeks following flood, fire or storm?
Here is what Finder thought on 30 October 2023, excerpt:
Nearly half of Australians have 1 month's worth of savings or less
A worrying 46% of Australians could only survive off their savings for 1 month or less, with just 24% saying they could last six months or more.
Women (54%) are more likely than men (38%) to have one month's worth of savings or less. One in five women (18%) are living paycheck to paycheck with less than a week's savings, which is double the percentage of men doing so (7%).
