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Renewed fire threat sparks exodus to Australian cities
NOWRA, Australia, Jan 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Beleaguered Australian
communities braced for yet more catastrophic bushfire conditions expected on
Saturday, as Australia’s navy evacuated around one thousand people from a
southeastern town.
In the town of Mallacoota, residents and tourists hemmed to the foreshore
since New Year’s Eve fires clambered aboard landing craft with family, pets
and a few belongings.
By late Friday, around 1,000 had been taken to the HMAS Choules and the MV
Sycamore, which were to sail down the coast to safety.
The scale of Australia’s unprecedented months-long bushfire crisis has
shocked the country and the world.
Since late September, at least 20 people have died, dozens have gone
missing, more than 1,300 homes have been damaged and an area roughly double
the size of Belgium or Hawaii has burned.
But experts predict Saturday could bring even more devastating conditions
with temperatures expected to rise well above 40 degrees Celsius (104
Fahrenheit).
A state of emergency has been declared across much of Australia’s heavily
populated southeast and more than 100,000 people have been told to leave
their homes across three states.
“There is still a window for people to leave,” said New South Wales
premier Gladys Berejiklian. “If you don’t need to be in the area, you need to
leave.”
Thousands of tourists, heeding that warning, abandoned their summer
holidays on a popular 300-kilometre (190-mile) length of the southeastern
coastline, prompting queues of cars stretching toward Sydney and Canberra.
On the road north of Nowra, families sat amid the haze in cars loaded with
dogs, surfboards and bicycles, with traffic at a virtual standstill.
Eloise Givney, 26, escaped from the blazes with a police escort after she
and a large group of family members spent four days isolated without power,
phones or internet.
“The fire came within about 50 metres of us and we drove through fire,
because there’s only one road in and one road out,” she told AFP, adding the
flames soared 15 metres high on either side of the road.
“We’ve been stuck without power for four days now. We haven’t been able to
feed the kids — we’ve got five kids with us — and we ran out of food about
a day ago.”
New South Wales Transport Minister Andrew Constance called it the “largest
evacuation of people out of the region ever”.
MORE/SSS/1731 hrs
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The Bureau of Meteorology’s Jonathan How said Saturday’s “conditions are
set to mirror or even deteriorate beyond what we saw on New Year’s Eve.”
“Strong, dry westerly winds will cause ongoing fires to flare up yet again
threatening communities that have already experienced widespread
devastation.”
That front arrived in South Australia on Friday, prompting an emergency
warning on Kangaroo Island where it threatens to consume an entire national
park.
Facing vast fire fronts, volunteer firefighters have been struggling to
cope.
Adam Harris, captain of the Rural Fire Service in Sussex Inlet — which
was hit by the New Year’s Eve blazes and remained under threat — told AFP
there were not enough fire crews on the ground.
“Every resource is being used, that’s the thing. There’s so much fire on
the ground that you’ve got to use every resource. We don’t have enough trucks
to be everywhere.”
– Political fallout –
Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison — who was pilloried for
holidaying in Hawaii as the country was ablaze and resisting calls to pay
exhausted firefighters — has come under renewed criticism for his handling
of the crisis.
Visiting the hard-hit town of Cobargo, Morrison encountered a tearful
young mother and a volunteer firefighter who both refused to shake his hand.
He returned to his motorcade amid a volley of swearing and abuse. “You
won’t be getting any votes down here, buddy,” one resident yelled.
Morrison’s Liberal ally and local parliamentarian Andrew Constance told 7
News that “the locals probably gave him the welcome that he probably
deserved”.
“The feeling is bloody raw.”
Morrison later acknowledged that “people are frustrated”.
“I understand how people are feeling and however they wish to respond is a
matter for them,” he said. “I don’t take it personally.”
With no sign of a let-up in the fires, Morrison said he was “inclined not
to proceed” with a visit to India in nine days.
The crisis continued to touch cities like Sydney and Melbourne, where
thick smoke has become the norm and fires have licked at suburban areas.
The blazes on Friday again shrouded Melbourne and Australia’s capital in
smoke, forcing the Canberra International tennis tournament to be relocated.
“I just feel nervous. I feel uneasy,” Melbourne resident Tui Lyon told
AFP.
“I don’t really feel like you can go about your daily business without
having that feeling in your stomach — just concern for loved ones and just
completely overwhelmed by the smoke.”
BSS/AFP/SSS/1732 hrs