A red sky and embers falling from the sky. The images circulating on social networks are striking. Thousands of people were forced, Tuesday, December 31, to flee their homes and find refuge on beaches in southeastern Australia to escape the violent fires that ravage this very touristic region.
The most worrying situation seems to be that of Mallacoota, a seaside town where some 4,000 vacationers and residents have been stranded on the beach. In the dark city, the authorities explained that the fires were the result of severe thunderstorms and a “Embers access”. Firefighters were deployed to protect those trapped.
10:30 am update from Dad at the wharf in Mallacoota – “fire front not far away” #Mallacoota #bushfirecrisis https://t.co/MvgeiZqujM
“We have three intervention teams in Mallacoota who will take care of the 4,000 people on the beach there”said Commissioner Andrew Crisp in charge of emergency services for the state of Victoria. He says to himself “Very worried about this group which finds itself isolated”. Preparations are said to be underway for evacuation by sea or land, if necessary. Local media have broadcast these amateur images on which the flames seem to have reached the shore.
“It’s just absolute devastation.”
Mallacoota resident Maisy says she doesn’t know how the community will recover f… https://t.co/2zewgFCO22
The ocean is “their last resort”
On social media, residents said they had preventively put on life jackets in case they were forced to take refuge in the water to escape the flames. Local radio reporter Francesca Winterson described how she saw the fire approaching the city and her home as she tried to broadcast alert messages amid a power outage . “I would rather be alive than have a house”, she said on ABC Gippsland radio. Some residents share photos of the first burning buildings in the city.
On a stretch of coastline of around 200 kilometers, many people had no choice but to go to the beaches to escape the fires that surrounded this coastal city. Some residents have fled offshore aboard their boats, trying to escape one of the worst days on record since the devastating fires began in September.
In some regions ravaged by fire, temperatures can reach hundreds of degrees, killing anyone nearby before the flames even reach them. The ocean is “Their last resort”, according to the Victoria State Emergency Department.
A situation out of control
Dozens of property have been destroyed since Monday and at least seven people are missing in the south-eastern states of New South Wales and Victoria. In some areas, the fires are so intense, the smoke so thick and the fires caused by lightning so violent that the aerial reconnaissance and the interventions of water bombers had to be interrupted, said the firefighters in charge of rural areas. New South Wales.
In recent days, the authorities have continued to alert the 30,000 tourists who have come to spend their summer holidays in the region, inciting them to leave this area which is one of the hundreds currently ravaged by fires across the immense island continent.
Unprecedented fires have ravaged Australia since September, but since Monday, rising temperatures and strong winds have fueled them. They have approached cities like Sydney and Melbourne, which have several million inhabitants.
As of Monday, about 100,000 people had to flee five suburbs of Melbourne due to the advance of the fires. A volunteer firefighter died and two others were burned while working in New South Wales.
A total of eleven people have died since the start of the fires, which destroyed a thousand homes and over 3 million hectares, an area larger than that of Belgium.
–
