Australia's Fires

[jabbur]

Here's hoping none of our friends down under are in the path of the wildfires! I just saw that 84 people have died. Stay safe down there and know that us Yanks are thinking about you and praying for you and your families.

 

[Toots]

I just saw this on the news - I hope our Aussie boarders are not affected by the terrible fires - and are keeping cool during their unusually warm summer.

 

[bethzaring]

pretty scary stuff that Mother Nature.....thinking of our southern friends....

 

[kadesma]

Prayers being sent to our friends Down Under

kadesma

 

[Callisto in NC]

Thoughts to all "down under."

 

[Barbara L]

I'm praying as well. I hope they get them out soon, and with no more loss of life or homes. It's terrible.

Barbara

 

[jeninga75]

Wow, I didn't even know about this until now. Hope everyone stays safe.

 

[justplainbill]

Haven't heard from Attie lately. Hope he's ok. Guess he's not to pleased about that toasty warm weather that he seemed to relish ragging us about.

 

[Callisto in NC]

I just read that the death count is up by 20 since about noon my time. It's really sad that this is happening. I hope everyone is okay.

 

[texasgirl]

I know that Brooksy and mrsmac have not been on in quite a while, but, along with Attie, I wish them the best and pray that they are out of the way. Attie is in Queensland and mrsmac is in Sydney. I don't know where Brooksy is.

 

[Cath4420]

Hi All and thank you for your thoughts,

The update from down here is loss of life 111, in excess of 750 homes lost, 3 schools and two total communities wiped out. One community had 85 people and 75 of them perished in the fire. They are expecting the loss of life to climb to about 170. It is the worst in our history. We are used to them down here but the conditions over the last couple of weeks have been horrendous, day after day of over 105+ temperatures and then raging winds. The Country Fire Association were saying that some of the flames were up to 10m high. Even here in NSW the hot weather is unbearable, it is starting to cool a little but the humidity is still high. The crazy thing about it is in the north of the country they have been flooded in twice with the flood waters still rising due to monsoonal cyclones and rainfall.

Again, thank you so much for your thoughts, all Aussies are still coming to terms with it. There is so much anger that some of these were deliberately lit.

We see the massive snow storms and cold you are experiencing and we are thinking of you as well.

Cath

PS - I think Attie is somewhere along the mid north Queensland coast, they should be fine, the floods are up around Innisfail and Townsville which are further up.

 

[Barbara L]

I just PM'd attie, since we haven't heard from him in several days.

I have a good friend in one of the suburbs of Melbourne. I know that towns as close as 50 miles north have been devastated. I need to write to him and find out how they are doing.

Barbara

 

[Cath4420]

Barbara

On Fox, one of the young presenters in Melbourne said it had cooled quite considerably in the city but they were experiencing a dark orange haze over the city from the winds dragging the smoke south. They are near a town called Whittlesea and if you log on to www.whereis.com.au it will show you how close they are to Melbourne. I hope your friend is doing ok.

Cath

 

[Barbara L]

Thanks Cath! I just wrote to my friend, and he wrote right back. I hope he won't mind me sharing part of his email here:

Hi Barb,
yes we are all ok.
But many fires so close is very scary. I am currently listening to the
radio the fires are still burning and we have, at the moment 126 dead and still rising.
It was so hot on Saturday 46.4 C with fierce winds blowing. The
devastation is shocking.
One town Marysville has been wiped out.
Apparently the fires travelled so fast people were caught in their cars.
Many crashing into each other due to the smoke.

Having said all that we are safe.

I'm thankful they are ok, and praying that it is all over soon.

Barbara

 

[Barbara L]

Attie is ok. He said they are waiting out the storms. I pray that the storms (rain and fire) all subside soon.

Barbara

 

[attie]

Thanks for your concern people, as Barbara says, it's rather wet where I am but I'm not complaining.

It is quiet amazing to see this in one part of the country http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/744864/at-least-93-dead-in-victorian-bushfires
then this up near where I live http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/02/06/2484820.htm

This dam is spilling in excess of 200,000,000 cubic metres of water per hour over it's spillway at the moment.

 

[attie]

Just going to bring you up to date, it is 7pm Monday night here and it is not good news.
"A wind change this afternoon is causing the huge fire in the Latrobe Valley to flare up along its northern edge and authorities have issued an urgent threat message to residents in the area, telling them it is too late to try and leave."
These poor people are now relying on self preservation to survive.

This metal is what's left of an engine block

 

[Barbara L]

That's awful.

Barbara

 

[Toots]

How terrible. I hope the fires get under control. I am also wondering about Bilby and how she is doing. I'm not sure what part of Australia she lives in. I hope she is safe too.

 

[les]

I received this photo from family in Oz, i haven't posted a photo on here so forgive me if it's not the right size.

It has been so hot in SA for over a week…40+ degrees Celsius everyday, very dry also.

A guy at work lives at Maude. His wife sent him these photos of a little Koala which just walked into the back porch looking for a bit of heat relief. She filled up a bucket and this is what happened!