Fires in South-Eastern Australia

[tcpip]

You can see it on their faces (and you can read it on their 'blogs). People in Victoria are trying to live today as normally as possible today, but there is air of simply being stunned by the weekend events. The temperature rose to between 46 and 49 degrees C, the hottest day on record. And after a lengthy period of dry weather, fires have set south-eastern Australia ablaze. At last count over one hundred people have died, and more have fatalities are expected. Whilst the worst seems over (thankfully there was a sudden 20 degree drop in temperature on Sunday, a change of wind direction and even some rain - God knows what it would have been like if Saturday's weather continued on Sunday), some blazes remain out of control. Some of the fires appear to have been deliberately lit; words fail me.

For international (or local) people wanting to donate via electronic means, that's "Victorian Bushfire Relief Fund" at National Australia Bank, 345 George St, Sydney. BSB 082001 Account 860046797. SWIFT CODE: NATAAU3302S (from mirelle21).

Comments

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Well a Royal Commission has been announced and the standing policy of "leave early" or "stay and defend" is under review.

We were discussing at work whether such concrete bunkers would be effective. In most cases, I imagine they would be. But then when you look at pictures of molten steel off cars from the heat, you realise in some circumstances it could end up being like an oven....

[laura-seabrook.livejournal.com]

I was wondering how the air was in there - I'd be more worried about suffocating than anything else. I read a story about Ash Wednesday where a worker at a lumber mill jumped in a water tank to escape and was cooked like a lobster.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

That sounds about right. I used to know some people who had a holiday home in the Otways when Ash Wednesday went through.. They told me that a number of wildlife tried to seek refuge (without success) by jumping into the sea... It didn't work.

It is, of course, certainly an option as water is obviously cooler. But if the fire remains consistent in the area, the description you give would be like a pot of water on a stove..