Fuck...Look at the numbers.
So, the low down is this...
Australia is one of the most volatile environments on Earth; floods, storms, fires, locusts (I'm not kidding), but this past week has hit an absolute new low.
Across Victoria (the state beneath NSW on a map, for those nonAussies) bushfires have torn across the countryside in what is supposed to be the most fearsome bushfire season yet:
35 huge fires are burning. The death toll is at 131, but is expected to climb to two hundred. Five thousand people are homeless and 750 homes are gone. The army (about 200 soldiers) has been deployed to help fight the fires, NSW has sent 250 firies (fire fighters) and Tasmania has sent up twenty-two as well. Deceased wildlife is covering the roads as is livestock.
Whole towns no longer exist. People can't go back there to rebuild because there is literally nothing left to rebuild with.
Families have been packed into their cars, gotten confused and afraid on the roads and have crashed...Not being able to get it together in time to escape the bushfire that has just roared over the top of them.
Again, bushfires are a natural occurrence here in Oz...But it's sickening that it's beginning to look like most of these were lit by firebugs.
No one knows what to do about this situation, but it's been said that if anyone is caught, they'll be tried for murder.
Today someone was caught for lighting a big fire at Peat's Ridge (a large, dry, flat expanse) in NSW and is facing 14 years imprisonment.
All we know is that those fighting the fires have about five days to get it all under control before the weather turns feral again.
Australia is one of the most volatile environments on Earth; floods, storms, fires, locusts (I'm not kidding), but this past week has hit an absolute new low.
Across Victoria (the state beneath NSW on a map, for those nonAussies) bushfires have torn across the countryside in what is supposed to be the most fearsome bushfire season yet:
35 huge fires are burning. The death toll is at 131, but is expected to climb to two hundred. Five thousand people are homeless and 750 homes are gone. The army (about 200 soldiers) has been deployed to help fight the fires, NSW has sent 250 firies (fire fighters) and Tasmania has sent up twenty-two as well. Deceased wildlife is covering the roads as is livestock.
Whole towns no longer exist. People can't go back there to rebuild because there is literally nothing left to rebuild with.
Families have been packed into their cars, gotten confused and afraid on the roads and have crashed...Not being able to get it together in time to escape the bushfire that has just roared over the top of them.
Again, bushfires are a natural occurrence here in Oz...But it's sickening that it's beginning to look like most of these were lit by firebugs.
No one knows what to do about this situation, but it's been said that if anyone is caught, they'll be tried for murder.
Today someone was caught for lighting a big fire at Peat's Ridge (a large, dry, flat expanse) in NSW and is facing 14 years imprisonment.
All we know is that those fighting the fires have about five days to get it all under control before the weather turns feral again.