ELONG ELONG, Australia — In a community of only about 100 people, Louise Hennessy says, neighbors need to look out for each other. Whenever someone goes quiet for too long, she picks up the phone to check that everything is all right. In recent months, more often than not, the answer has been no.
“The stress of not knowing when it’s going to rain creates a lot of anxiety,” Hennessy said. More than two years of extreme drought has hit tiny Elong Elong — about 225 miles from Sydney — and other places across Australia hard.
On a record-hot summer day in January, Hennessy, 59, didn’t have to call neighbors. This time, they were lining up to speak to her as she stood in the local gas station and handed out application forms for government assistance on behalf of a Catholic organization, the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Outside, a poster announced, “You’re not alone.”
[For more on this story by Rick Noack, go to https://www.washingtonpost.com...m_term=.3d52b01c88b6]
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