The Size of Germany and France

So, I was watching the news last night and Kevin Rudd said something about the international interest in the flood affected areas. He said that, when you point out an area at least as big as the size of Germany and France combined has been affected by severe flooding, it really captures people's attention.

I have to say, it really captured mine.

I keep forgetting how small Europe really is. Or, rather, how big Australia really is. You always see maps in which the state or country in question takes up the entire page, so you never really get the sense that the state of Queensland actually is roughly the same size as Germany and France put together (and probably Switzerland, Austria and parts of Northern Italy, as well).

Not all of that is flooding, though. It's all pretty wet, but I'd say the actual flood waters are only covering an area about the size of the Czech Republic. Or, perhaps, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands put together.

Still, if you realise that we've got water covering enough land that it would wipe out three countries if it was happening in Europe, that kind of sounds really impressive - even if it isn't strictly the equivalent of France and Germany combined.