Wildfires in Australia

I have been keeping up with the story of the wildfires that have killed 96 people in Australia. I have been reading about it on aol. sorry no link Seems there has been no rain in the area, the earth is extremely dry! Hope all our ats'ers from down under are safe. Many people burned alive trying to flee their homes in their cars. So tragic God Bless them

[edit on 2/8/2009 by PammyK]

More than 850 acres have burned out and 700 homes were destroyed. Investigators have not ruled out arson.

Where are our Aussie friends? Check in you guys, to let us know you are safe. This is a terrible tragedy!

Just thought I'd drop this link for the Sydney Herald. Since I was living there seven years ago I read it daily.

www.smh.com.au...

Yes its very shocking what has happened there and i know that we have a good amount of members who may be in them areas, my thoughts are with you friends, and i hope that you can all check in as soon as you can,

We are all thinking of you,

I will also update for those who may not have seen whats going on,

Over 100 people have now thought to have perished in the fires,

The bodies of more victims are being discovered as authorities reach further into rural areas scorched by blazes in the southern state of Victoria.

A spokesman Victoria's Department of Sustainability and Environment said 108 deaths have been confirmed.

Many people died in their cars as they attempted to escape while others were burnt to death in their homes.

The toll looks set to rise further as medics treated badly injured survivors.

LINK


The pictures coming out of this are just as astounding,

photos

there are a few melbornites and australians posting in the other thread though i fear it'll be a while before any of our affected members can get back online.

[edit on 8-2-2009 by ll__raine__ll]

Yes it should be mentioned that there is a larger thread in the news section.


www.abovetopsecret.com...

not only are we having bush fires in the south of the country, up here in the north we are having floods.
Our super market shelves are looking a bit bare due to the fact that the only roads in are under water and we have had to rely on ships and aircraft getting fresh produce up here, we have areas up here who have been isolated for over a month.
The other problem with the floods is that it brings out the crocodiles and more areas for the Mosquitoes to breed.
We have over 200 people infected with Dengue currently in the Townsville and Cairns region.

reply to post by munkey66


yes you guys sure are getting it on all fronts at the moment and with the economy what it is, well ...

keep safe.

reply to post by Nventual
Thanks for the link. I couldn't find a thread and could not figure out why there wasn't a thread already started! Thanks!

yeh we're here thanks for your concern.
Black saturday as its called was pretty terrible day, the wind speed and temperature was ridiculous, hottest day in history apparently 47 celcius in the city and where i live out of melbourne around 48-49 degrees celcius.

I read the updated story on these fires on aol.com (sorry no link) and it says the death toll is around 200 so far. There was the most pitiful photo on that article showing a firefighter sharing his bottled water with an injured Koala bear. This is just a terrible situation for man and nature!

I live in Australia, and I swear it's the only thing on TV, I mean no offence but the people that died had ample warning, they were simply ignorant who refused to accept the fact that you cant stop a bushfire with a garden hose, I know it sounds in-sensitive, but they knew so far in advance that the fires were coming, and I know its hard to leave your home, BUT PICKING TO SAVE YOUR HOUSE OVER YOUR OWN LIFE AND YOUR FAMILY'S? The first few lives were a tragic loss, yes, but they had reports coming in after that to evacuate for up to 2 days in advance and still they didn't move.

Their own fault really.