Tens of thousands of holidaymakers and residents were yesterday urged to evacuate a popular tourist spot in southeast Australia as a heatwave sweeping through the region threatened to escalate bushfires.
In a televised appeal, Victoria Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp called on about 30,000 people vacationing around Lakes Entrance in the East Gippsland region to leave immediately.
“We want you to get out now,” Crisp said. “It is important that you now think very, very seriously about leaving.”
Photo: AFP
The area, about four hours’ drive east of the state capital, Melbourne, is already threatened by three major blazes, while soaring temperatures, wind and lightning could see more fires break out today, and close the main highway in and out of the region.
It is the latest development in the bushfire crisis that has left at least nine people dead in Australia since blazes broke out months ago during the southern hemisphere winter and amid a prolonged drought gripping parts of the country.
The fires, which are affecting several states, have triggered an emotive debate about the effects of global warming in the world’s driest inhabited continent.
With a state of emergency declared in New South Wales and toxic smoke shrouding Sydney for several days this month, the spotlight has been turned on Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government, which champions the coal industry and has dismissed calls to take more steps to curb emissions.
A severe heatwave is spreading across the country, with temperatures forecast to reach 41°C today in Lakes Entrance — a coastal town with pristine beaches and a large system of inland waterways.
Parts of western Sydney are expected to reach 44°C by tomorrow, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said.
Sydney’s New Year’s Eve fireworks celebrations, which draw tens of thousands of tourists to the city for the harborside spectacle, are to go ahead regardless.
The city council has rejected a petition calling for the display to be scrapped, and the money to be donated to bushfire and drought relief projects, saying the event is watched by millions of people worldwide and generates A$130 million (US$91 million) for the local economy.
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