Authorities have say tens of thousands of people have evacuated to safety in the Australian state of Victoria Monday amid extreme fire conditions — as forecasters warn southeastern Australia is being hit by record heat.
The latest: Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp told a news conference Monday blazes had broken out across the state during a total fire ban, forcing a major highway to close. "Columns of fire" were punching into the atmosphere amid windy conditions in Gippsland, a popular tourist destination, he said.
The columns are generating their own weather. There’s lightning coming out of these columns. It is unpredictable, it’s dangerous out there."— Crisp
The state of play: Crisp said one wind-driven wildfire that erupted near the East Gippsland town of Mallacoota Sunday traveled some 15 miles to the coast. "It put up a column, punching the atmosphere 14 kilometers high (nearly nine miles)," he said.
- Temperatures were set to hit 109°F in some parts of Victoria. Authorities told thousands to leave high-risk areas, including in East Gippsland — where sirens warned of rapidly approaching blazes.
- Most tourists heeded evacuation warnings, but some had opted to stay, Gippsland fires incident controller Ben Rankin told reporters.
In New South Wales, 97 fires were burning across the state by lunchtime Monday local time (Sunday evening ET), "with 43 yet to be contained," the NSW Rural Fire Service tweeted.
- "Very High to Extreme fire danger is forecast across parts NSW tomorrow," the fire service warned, ahead of New Year's Eve events.
In South Australia, "catastrophic" fire conditions were declared in three districts. All other districts in the state were under "extreme" or "severe" warnings amid an extreme heat wave.
In Western Australia, a total fire ban was declared and an emergency warning level was issued for a blaze southeast of the state capital Perth after the it "jumped containment lines," per News.com.au.
In Tasmania, parts of the island state were on "watch and act" alerts for wildfire risks, as temperatures topped 100°F.
The big picture: The fires have killed at least nine people and burned over 12 million acres since they began in September, per the Guardian.
Go deeper:
Editor's note: This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.
"fire" - Google News
December 30, 2019 at 12:13PM
https://ift.tt/39rTdbd
"Columns of fire" threaten Victoria, Australia: Thousands evacuate - Axios
"fire" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2rPfnCQ
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to ""Columns of fire" threaten Victoria, Australia: Thousands evacuate - Axios"
Post a Comment