Thousands without power for weeks in bushfire crisis in Australia
Firemen prepare as a bushfire approaches homes on the outskirts of the town of Bargo on December 21, 2019 in Sydney, Australia. Picture: Getty Images. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.
SYDNEY, Jan 8, 2020, SMH. Thousands of people cut off by bushfire could be stuck without power for weeks, as emergency crews rush to prepare for a spike in fire risk on Friday. Emergency crews have undertaken controlled burns in Victoria’s north east and have planned for more in East Gippsland ahead of another hot and windy Friday, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Bulldozers have also strengthened containment lines around 12 fires that are still burning across the state, none at the emergency level.
“We’ve got our eye on Friday,” a spokeswoman from the State Control Centre said.
Temperatures that day are forecast to reach the low 40s in the north east and the high 30s through East Gippsland.
Northerly winds will strengthen throughout the state, before a strong and gusty change sweeps through from the west and reaches the fire areas from the mid-afternoon.
That will bring a chance of lightning in the north east, which has emergency workers on edge, and up to 10 millimetres of rain in East Gippsland ranges.
But that’s “nowhere near enough” to control the fires, Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Richard Russell said.
“What it would do is at least slow fire behaviour.”
There are still 2800 homes and businesses without power because of the fires, and the State Control Centre said it could take weeks for some communities to get back on the grid.
Diesel has been dropped into Mallacoota, Omeo, Corryong, Jarrahmond and Ensay to power generators, with priority given to relief centres, hospitals, airports, communications and essential services.
Water supplies have been stretched in East Gippsland, with residents asked to only use water for essentials.
“We are facing unprecedented challenges presented by the bushfires sweeping across East Gippsland, as we try to maintain water supplies to numerous communities – large and small – spread across an area half the size of Belgium,” East Gippsland Water managing director Steve McKenzie said in a statement.
“We have been experiencing an exceptionally heavy draw on water across all our supply systems, resulting in sporadic water delivery including low water pressure and interruptions to supply, and water quality issues. Supply systems are designed to deal with day-to-day water use and not major bushfire events.”
People in Omeo and Buchan have also been told not to drink the tap water.
Seven communities remain isolated in Bellbird Creek, Bemm River, Club Terrace, Combienbar, Genoa, Tamboon and Tamboon South, with the focus on supplying food and water.
The last evacuation out of Mallacoota finally went ahead on Tuesday night, with 274 people – 66 firefighters and 205 evacuees – onboard the HMAS Choules, due to arrive in Hastings about 5pm Wednesday.
More people registered to take the last chance to evacuate, but some decided to stay.
The group was initially expected to evacuate by air, but dense smoke got in the way.
Authorities are scrambling to establish containment lines today before conditions begin to deteriorate later this week.
Haze has mostly lifted in Melbourne on Wednesday morning with air quality forecast to be “good” before it deteriorates again on Thursday and clears on Friday.
So far this season, the fires have burnt through more than 1.2 million hectares, after slow fire movement overnight.
The blaze near Corryong has not yet merged with the nearby Kosciuszko National Park fire across the NSW border, though they are perilously close.
The fires have razed 204 homes along with 243 outbuildings such as sheds, though that figure is likely to rise when emergency crews reach more communities.
Agriculture Victoria has confirmed 1150 livestock losses in the Upper Murray and 150 in Gippsland, with more than 3500 farm animals missing across both regions.
Share it
| 
| 
| 
| 
|