Rains have flooded communities since Thursday, but parts of the east coast went into crisis on Saturday when a large dam overflowed, increasing the volume of rivers and causing flooding.
On Monday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian of New South Wales (NSW) announced that almost 18,000 people had been evacuated from flood-affected regions in the state, and residents turned to social media to show that thousands of animals were also moving.
Matt Lovenfosse posted updates on Facebook from his family’s farm in Kinchela Creek, including the photo above.
“All you see in brown are spiders trying to beat the flood,” he wrote in the caption.
Lovenfosse grew up on the farm and told CNN that he experienced similar floods in March 2001 and March 2013. On both occasions, the floodwaters pushed the spiders towards the house, which is the highest point on the property.
“It is still raining here and the flood is still rising, the water is approaching our home,” said Lovenfosse. “In the morning it must be inside and the spiders will be all over the house.”
However, Lovenfosse plans to stay in his two-story home.
“My family has lived here forever, I grew up here and we feel safe here,” he said.
Spiders are not the only animals that seek refuge in the water, added Lovenfosse.
“The trees are full of snakes,” he said. “If you take the boat over the paddock, they swim towards it trying to catch something dry, so do spiders.”
This may sound like a nightmare to some, but Lovenfosse is not upset.
“I grew up here on the farm, so I’ve always been close to snakes, spiders and all the other animals, so they don’t bother me and we usually don’t cross paths very often, but when the flood comes, they have to find a place to dry” , he said.
“So many SPIDERS from the flood,” she wrote, alongside a video of hundreds of arachnids crawling over what look like garage doors.
“They will climb their legs to take shelter as well,” says the caption.
The rainy weather is expected to continue, and Berejiklian predicts that more people will be evacuated.
“The situation is evolving, heavy rains are going to continue and we are now seeing warnings issued for weather warnings for Illawarra and the south coast,” she said.
“I don’t know any time in our state’s history when we had these extreme weather conditions in such a rapid succession in the middle of a pandemic,” she added. “So these are challenging times for New South Wales, but I think we have also demonstrated our ability to be resilient.”