Friends, cats and disasters

Everything always comes at once - great happiness and sadness, minor and major disasters, bills, and blessings true and mixed. This was one of those weeks! Right on top of the floods, Queensland is again hammered, this time by cyclone "Yasi". Followed by more floods, this time in Victoria, and fires, over in Western Australia. And not to forget the snowstorm wreaking havoc in the USA. Extreme can be fun, but extreme weather isn't, especially if it doesn't stop sometime!
This week, a friend had to evacuate after the unrelenting rain dumped nearly 200mm of rain in 2 days. It had invaded her house, and neither sandbagging nor pumping was able to stop the encroaching waters. Taking dog, cats, birds, and husband, she moved in with family, to wait until the water had receded. Now for the cleanup! I wish I lived closer, so that I could help her in this crazy time. My thoughts and love are with you, Chris!
While families are surveying what remains of their once beautiful homes, all over the country, some silly and naive souls are finding pleasure in the wet surroundings, digging out surfboards and blow-up lilos to play in the churning waters. Even though it's a pretty stupid thing to do, especially when rescue services are stretched to the max already, another part of me understands that impulse. Who can say they've surfed down the main street of XXX, when XXX is 400km away from the nearest surf beach?! However, some of them must be candidates for the Darwin Award, like the idiots riding jet skis all the way into the back of other cars....enough said!
Amidst all the mayhem, a cat found its way into our lives - seconds from being roadkill, her curiosity about a stranger (me) meant she was whisked into my car and to safety. Not that she appreciated it, in fact, she protested loudly! And has continued to do so. Now, this is not your average moggy, this is a pedigree chocolate-point Birman. At $750 a pop, these cats are not designed to be outdoors, on the loose. At the very least, one would expect her to have a micro-chip for identification. But no, whoever her owners were, they didn't bother to chip their pet. So, if nobody claims her within 8 days, she's ours. I'm afraid we're hers already. After another friends suggestion, we'll probably name her Yasi, after the cyclone. She blew in and wreaked havoc....