Australia Is Burning And It’s Going To Get Worse This Weekend

This weekend strong winds and rising temperatures are going to fuel the already out of control fire that is burning down Australia.

On Friday thousands of residents and tourists were evacuated from parts of Australia as conditions are expected to worsen over the next 48 hrs.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison had this to Friday at a press conference;

“This is a ferocious fire that is still out there, and the climate conditions are going to be very difficult to contain in the next 24 to 48 hours.”

The wildfire fires have been burning since October. 1,400 homes have been reduced to ash, 19 people have passed away and dozens are still missing.

Australian authorities said this season’s fires have been the worst ever in the history of Australia. It’s no where near over the crisis is supposed to last at least a few more months. As of today hundreds of fires are still active across the nation and over 12 million acres of land have been scorched.

New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia are undergoing evacuations as I write these words. Victoria has declared a state of disaster which allows the government to force people to evacuate.

“These fires are at a scale that has been… unprecedented, particularly for this time of year and the length of the fire season and the absence of the dousing rain.”

– Scott Morrison

The Navy has been called in to help evacuate people trapped in the coastal town of Mallacoota in Victoria. Two ships will help get over 4,000 people and their pets to safety. 3,000 of those people stranded are tourists according to the Australian Broadcasting Company. The ships final destination is Western Point in Victoria, a journey that will take 20 hours.

Our thoughts and prayers at IMU Media go out to Australia and everyone that has been affected by the wildfires.

(Cover photo courtesy of New York Times, video courtesy of YouTube and ABC news Australia, source USA Today)