Skies over southeastern Australia darkened with huge plumes of smoke and lightning storms yesterday after an epic heatwave, with raging wildfires claiming one life and residents warned to “leave and live.”
A cool change began sweeping the states of South Australia and Victoria as evening fell, bringing much-needed relief to millions of residents who have sweltered through up to five days of scorching temperatures in excess of 40°C.
The baking heat has triggered thousands of wildfires since shifting on Monday from the west coast, where it triggered an inferno that razed 56 homes and claimed one life.
Photo: AFP
Authorities were braced for horrific conditions as the cooling southerly change brought wind gusts of up to 120kph, fanning scores of fires across the two states and hampering aerial firebombing operations.
A towering firestorm sent more than 100 people fleeing their homes in the Grampians National Park west of Melbourne, killing a woman at Roses Gap and prompting authorities to warn of further casualties.
“These fires will be very intense and erratic this afternoon,” Victoria state’s fire commissioner Craig Lapsley told reporters. “There is a fair chance of losing property and even, if people are caught in the wrong space, life could be lost.”
In the Grampians, people started evacuating the holiday town of Halls Gap on Thursday evening after seeing a “big red glow on top of the mountain,” said Rohan McDonald, owner of the Halls Gap Lakeside Tourist Park.
“We are covered in smoke, there is a massive plume that looks like an atomic bomb has gone off over the top of the mountain,” he said.
Lapsley said the out-of-control blaze, which has already ripped through more than 21,500 hectares and was just 2km from Halls Gap late yesterday, was running so hot it was “creating its own weather.”
The convection column — a plume of hot gases, smoke, ash and other debris created by the fire — was causing lightning strikes which were starting other blazes, he added.
The smoke was so thick witnesses said it was like fog.
Lapsley said the four-day heatwave in Melbourne had brought “the same if not worse conditions” than those that had preceded the so-called Black Saturday wildfires in 2009 which had claimed 173 lives.
“Today is one of those days that certainly will be marked in the history of Victoria,” Lapsley said. “We’re only at the start of what is a significant fire period.”
There were about 57 fires raging across Victoria late yesterday, seven of which were declared emergencies, and Victoria Emergency Minister Kim Wells urged people to heed evacuation warnings.
“If the fire danger rating is severe, extreme or code red, you are risking your life and that of your families if you choose to stay behind. The message is very clear — leave and live,” he said.
In neighboring South Australia, which is in the fifth day of an extreme heatwave, two homes were razed in the Barossa winemaking region and there were three fire emergencies declared across the state, with properties under threat.
The Country Fire Service (CFS) was expecting lightning strikes as the cool change came through, further complicating firefighting efforts.
“We’re expecting a number of new starts as a result of lightning,” CFS head Greg Nettleton said.
The heatwave continued to take its toll on residents, with more than 400 heat exposure cases reported in Victoria since Tuesday and 51 heart attacks — a significant increase on normal figures.
“For an hour this morning we were doing one cardiac arrest every six minutes and we expect this will continue until this weather cools down,” Ambulance Victoria operations manager Paul Holman said.
Melbourne peaked at 43.9°C at 4pm and had shed 13°C two hours later, while the South Australia capital Adelaide hit 42.7°C just before 2:30pm and was slowly cooling off.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese