Luckily, the White-tailed Rats (which are quite hefty critters) tend to avoid people as much as possible -- although they will help themselves to whatever they can find if they get inside the house!

The climate is crazy! We've had similar disruptions -- the wet season was late and then ran into the period when we'd expect it to be dry; then the dry season was record-breakingly dry; and now we've had a very early cyclone. There's no much energy in the climate system and things are definitely changing.