Brief weather break for bushfires
Print Edition
Australian officials took advantage of better weather yesterday to reopen roads blocked by bushfires and move some people to safety although thick smoke stalled rescue efforts and hundreds of people remained stranded.
Fires have ravaged more than 8 million hectares across the country, an area nearly the size of Austria, killing 25 people, destroying thousands of buildings and leaving some towns without electricity and mobile coverage.
Police yesterday confirmed the death of a 71-year-old man on the south coast of New South Wales state who was reported missing on December 31.
A second day of light rain and cool winds brought some relief from heat-fuelled blazes that consumed parts of two states over the weekend, but officials warned the dangerous weather was expected to return this week.
Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews said that about 400 people were airlifted on Sunday out of Mallacoota, a small and coastal holiday town.
鈥淲e had a plan to airlift another 300 out today. Sadly smoke means that is not possible,鈥 he said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has come under criticism for what critics call his government鈥檚 failure to tackle climate change, announced AU$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) over two years for a newly formed National Bushfire Recovery Agency.
鈥淲hat we are focusing on here is the human cost and the rebuilding cost for people鈥檚 lives,鈥 Morrison said.
He said nearly 4,000 cattle and sheep have been killed in the fires. Countless wild animals have been killed.
Dean Linton, a resident of Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains, used the break in the immediate threat to his town to visit his wife and four children who had fled to Sydney.
He also picked up a fire-fighting pump and generator to help him protect the family home.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of fuel in that national park; it would only take one lightning strike,鈥 Linton said.
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