hazmail Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) It's been so hot her lately, yesterday from Sydney to Adelaide (across 3 states) it was in the mid 40's, Melbourne topped out at 47 C (about 117 Fh). Fires started yesterday, in Victoria and N.S.W, whole towns gone in Victoria, Marysville a small town of about 100 houses, lost all but one house, about 700 houses and 76 killed so far, they are still going, in total these fires (about 10 big ones) have burned out 650,000 acres of Victoria in about 36 hours - hasn't really got going around here YET.pete Here's a link, don't know how long it will last!!. http://au.yahoo.com/ Edited February 8, 2009 by hazmail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diemai Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 @ hazmail Just watched it on the news , by now 80 killed , but more people feared to be found dead:( . Very sorry to say, but I guess , mankind has to pay the prize of having violated "Mother Earth" for so long , no matter on which side of the planet such currently happens . But on the other hand , wildfires are nothing strange in Australia , I guess:huh: ? I've even heard , that since ancient times the Aborigines have periodically set certain parts of the bushland on fire as a possibility for a sort of recreation of nature ! But the problem nowadays is , that the cities and towns grew too close into nature , since everone likes to look at trees and animals rather than streets and buildings , gazing out of his window . all the best , diemai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazmail Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Yes Diemai, you hit the nail on the head there, most of these towns are in the middle of natural forests or pine plantations, it's the price you pay for living in 'Idyllic' locations. It's the speed of the fire that suprises and traps people, these fires travel at around 40-50kph fanned by hot, strong wind's (usually N.W) and 'spot' ahead for up to 25Km, the same thing happened in my city (Canberra - 4 killed and 606 houses lost) in 2003, it was into the city from nearby mountains 10 Km away in about 15 min, so people panic and get caught in their cars, a big percentage of the people killed yesterday were in their cars. All the tragedy is being revealed this morning, 116 dead so far, sadly,this will rise as there are a lot of people in hospital with burns - the town of Kinglake (pop 3000) lost 600 houses out of a total there of about 700 homes. Half the state looks like a bomb site and there are a couple of larger fires still going, although it is raining. Just in contrast, in the North of Australia they have had two cyclones (Hurricanes) in the same place in the past week, one town has had 1150mm of rain, the top half or Queensland is flooded, and looks like another Cyclone is heading in, about 700 Km lower down the coast. That's summer, it's all happening here.pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassrecord Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Our prayers and condolences for all the people who lost home, fortune and loved ones. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
