AI
Monday, February 07, 2011 1:09:01 AM
Raging Perth bushfire claims more homes
* UPDATED Paige Taylor and Debbie Guest
* From: The Australian
* February 07, 2011 4:39PM
Insert: photos .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2011/02/07/3131868.htm
A house is engulfed by flames during the bushfires in Perth. Picture: Channel Seven Source: Supplied
MORE West Australians have been urged to flee their properties as the number of homes destroyed by out-of-control bushfires in Perth rose to 59.
Premier Colin Barnett has declared parts of the Perth foothills a natural disaster area following the loss of homes since the fires erupted at the weekend.
Early today the number of destroyed properties stood at around 40, but by this afternoon that number had climbed to 59, with a further 19 damaged.
Some residents learned of the fate of their homes at a community meeting in the southern Perth suburb of Armadale today, when a Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokesman read out a grim list of addresses of properties lost.
The spokesman also read out the addresses of homes that had been found partially damaged, with descriptions including “house 20 per cent damaged” and “shed gone, house OK”.
Gusty winds were today still causing authorities headaches across the entire southwest of the state, with fire fighters in Bunbury, Albany and various regional areas both north and south of Perth battling complex and complicated fire fronts.
One of the two major fires - around Roleystone, southeast of the city - was 95 per cent contained at 12.30pm (AEST) after overnight conditions eased but it could take days to control, according to Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokesman Mal Cronstedt.
Police today warned residents whose homes may have been affected by the fire that it was too dangerous for them to return.
The fire was started accidentally by someone using a grinder, authorities believe.
Mr Cronstedt said the other major blaze, near Red Hill to Perth's northeast, was not contained and authorities were anxiously anticipating the effect of an afternoon sea breeze.
Residents in parts of the City of Swan, including Red Hill, received a bushfire emergency warning this morning.
“It is not safe to stay and actively defend, your best chance for survival is to leave,” the warning stated.
“If you cannot leave, you need to get ready to take shelter in your home and actively defend it.”
The Victorian government has sent 21 specialists to work with West Australian fire fighters in incident control areas, as well as two helicopters to work alongside the six existing Helitacs which have been dumping water since 9pm on Saturday.
The two extra helicopters are due to arrive tomorrow, Emergency Services Minister Rob Johnson said.
“Some people might say `Well it's a bit late' but it's not too late because the predictions are that we still face some very, very severe weather conditions and some very severe gales and gusts of wind,” Mr Johnson said.
Mr Johnson said earlier today the number of destroyed properties would rise.
“It's anticipated that it will rise but we don't know by how many,” he said this morning.
Premier Colin Barnett this morning offered his sympathy to those who had lost their homes.
“The trauma of this will go on for some time,” he said.
People who lost their homes will receive $3000 and those whose homes were significantly damaged - 19 at last count- would receive $1000.
Mr Barnett thanked the approximately 400 professionals and volunteers who had helped fight the fires since Saturday night.
“There has been no loss of life, three hospitalisations due to smoke inhalation and very unfortunately one volunteer firefighter quite severely injured in a vehicle accident yesterday,” he said.
“But I congratulate the people in the area, in very distressing circumstances, for taking the advice of professionals working in the area and for evacuating or leaving their homes.
“That would be a very, very difficult this to do, hard to imagine, but the result of that good sense and proper management of this very serious fire has meant no loss of life and that's something we should be all thankful for.”
West Australian police today warned residents whose homes may have been affected by the Roleystone blaze that they may be arrested if they tried to return to the fire area.
Superintendent Darryl Gaunt told a community meeting that the situation was too dangerous for them to return.
“You cannot get back in there, if you try and get back in there we may have to arrest people,” he said. “At the moment it's a dangerous area there's a lot of structural damage and there's still spot fires in the fire zone.”
Residents have also been told that there will be a police presence in the fire areas for 24 hours after they are allowed to return.
Superintendent Gaunt said this would help protect property in the area.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/perth-bushfires-rage-out-of-control-destroying-at-least-40-properties/story-e6frg6nf-1226001386025
Remnants of Yasi take us to extremes
Amos Aikman .. The Australian
February 07, 2011 12:00AM
THE remnants of Queensland's Cyclone Yasi continued to bring extreme weather to Australia. The Northern Territory, Victoria and parts of South Australia copped a drenching, while Sydney's record heatwave finally broke in the afternoon.
As Yasi's tropical low-pressure system moved further inland, moisture from the system streamed ahead, joining damp air lingering in the southern states from Cyclone Anthony, producing record rainfall in many areas.
The system remained active over the NT yesterday, where areas north of Alice Springs received more than 100mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to last night.
As houses were lost in a rapidly moving bushfire on the outskirts of Perth, meteorologists in Sydney tallied up the broken weather records, judging the city's heatwave its longest ever.
Weather experts said it was the same static high-pressure system that helped push Yasi towards the Queensland coast and inland last week that caused the soaring Sydney temperatures. The city sweltered through seven consecutive days of above 30C temperatures last week.
Sydney also recorded its hottest night since 1973 last night. At midnight, the temperature was still 33C in the city, and the mercury dipped to only a still-balmy 28C at 6am. Saturday night was the fifth consecutive night above 24C; before that Sydney had never experienced more than two.
The intense heat continued throughout the morning in Sydney, with the sweltering conditions abating only about lunchtime when a cold front pushed up from Victoria, slashing the temperature by 15C in less than three hours.
At the peak of yesterday's heatwave, even the beach proved too hot for Chris Wallace and his girlfriend, Lara Picone.
But as the cool change approached, the couple returned for a final swim.
"When we heard it was going to get cooler this afternoon, we decided to come down here and get the last of it," Ms Picone said as the couple took a swim at Gordons Bay in Sydney's east.
"We tried to buy a fan yesterday, but they were all sold out."
Weatherwatch meteorologist Don White said the extreme conditions were all, in one way or another, related to Yasi.
"Yasi was a very powerful system," he said.
The town of Mildura in northwest Victoria received about 180mm of rain over the weekend, or almost two-thirds of its annual rainfall, with 147mm falling on Saturday alone.
"They had two months' average rainfall in about 10 minutes," Mr White said. "This will be the fifth consecutive month in which they've had more than 100mm of rainfall.
"In the last 35 years they only had one month with more than 100mm and now they've had five in a row."
Areas around Broken Hill in western NSW and into eastern South Australia received more than 100mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to last night. One gauge reportedly received twice its annual rainfall.
In Wagga Wagga in southern NSW, the body of a man in his 50s was recovered yesterday inside a Toyota Hilux utility, 400m from a flooded creek crossing.
Cooler weather is forecast for Sydney and other parts of NSW until the middle of the week, along with mild and dry conditions in Victoria and South Australia.
Rain will ease in the NT, while thundery rain will return to Queensland -- which had dry weather yesterday -- next week. The outlook for WA is variable.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/remnants-of-yasi-take-us-to-extremes/story-fn59niix-1226001077875
* UPDATED Paige Taylor and Debbie Guest
* From: The Australian
* February 07, 2011 4:39PM
Insert: photos .. http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2011/02/07/3131868.htm
A house is engulfed by flames during the bushfires in Perth. Picture: Channel Seven Source: Supplied
MORE West Australians have been urged to flee their properties as the number of homes destroyed by out-of-control bushfires in Perth rose to 59.
Premier Colin Barnett has declared parts of the Perth foothills a natural disaster area following the loss of homes since the fires erupted at the weekend.
Early today the number of destroyed properties stood at around 40, but by this afternoon that number had climbed to 59, with a further 19 damaged.
Some residents learned of the fate of their homes at a community meeting in the southern Perth suburb of Armadale today, when a Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokesman read out a grim list of addresses of properties lost.
The spokesman also read out the addresses of homes that had been found partially damaged, with descriptions including “house 20 per cent damaged” and “shed gone, house OK”.
Gusty winds were today still causing authorities headaches across the entire southwest of the state, with fire fighters in Bunbury, Albany and various regional areas both north and south of Perth battling complex and complicated fire fronts.
One of the two major fires - around Roleystone, southeast of the city - was 95 per cent contained at 12.30pm (AEST) after overnight conditions eased but it could take days to control, according to Fire and Emergency Services Authority spokesman Mal Cronstedt.
Police today warned residents whose homes may have been affected by the fire that it was too dangerous for them to return.
The fire was started accidentally by someone using a grinder, authorities believe.
Mr Cronstedt said the other major blaze, near Red Hill to Perth's northeast, was not contained and authorities were anxiously anticipating the effect of an afternoon sea breeze.
Residents in parts of the City of Swan, including Red Hill, received a bushfire emergency warning this morning.
“It is not safe to stay and actively defend, your best chance for survival is to leave,” the warning stated.
“If you cannot leave, you need to get ready to take shelter in your home and actively defend it.”
The Victorian government has sent 21 specialists to work with West Australian fire fighters in incident control areas, as well as two helicopters to work alongside the six existing Helitacs which have been dumping water since 9pm on Saturday.
The two extra helicopters are due to arrive tomorrow, Emergency Services Minister Rob Johnson said.
“Some people might say `Well it's a bit late' but it's not too late because the predictions are that we still face some very, very severe weather conditions and some very severe gales and gusts of wind,” Mr Johnson said.
Mr Johnson said earlier today the number of destroyed properties would rise.
“It's anticipated that it will rise but we don't know by how many,” he said this morning.
Premier Colin Barnett this morning offered his sympathy to those who had lost their homes.
“The trauma of this will go on for some time,” he said.
People who lost their homes will receive $3000 and those whose homes were significantly damaged - 19 at last count- would receive $1000.
Mr Barnett thanked the approximately 400 professionals and volunteers who had helped fight the fires since Saturday night.
“There has been no loss of life, three hospitalisations due to smoke inhalation and very unfortunately one volunteer firefighter quite severely injured in a vehicle accident yesterday,” he said.
“But I congratulate the people in the area, in very distressing circumstances, for taking the advice of professionals working in the area and for evacuating or leaving their homes.
“That would be a very, very difficult this to do, hard to imagine, but the result of that good sense and proper management of this very serious fire has meant no loss of life and that's something we should be all thankful for.”
West Australian police today warned residents whose homes may have been affected by the Roleystone blaze that they may be arrested if they tried to return to the fire area.
Superintendent Darryl Gaunt told a community meeting that the situation was too dangerous for them to return.
“You cannot get back in there, if you try and get back in there we may have to arrest people,” he said. “At the moment it's a dangerous area there's a lot of structural damage and there's still spot fires in the fire zone.”
Residents have also been told that there will be a police presence in the fire areas for 24 hours after they are allowed to return.
Superintendent Gaunt said this would help protect property in the area.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/perth-bushfires-rage-out-of-control-destroying-at-least-40-properties/story-e6frg6nf-1226001386025
Remnants of Yasi take us to extremes
Amos Aikman .. The Australian
February 07, 2011 12:00AM
THE remnants of Queensland's Cyclone Yasi continued to bring extreme weather to Australia. The Northern Territory, Victoria and parts of South Australia copped a drenching, while Sydney's record heatwave finally broke in the afternoon.
As Yasi's tropical low-pressure system moved further inland, moisture from the system streamed ahead, joining damp air lingering in the southern states from Cyclone Anthony, producing record rainfall in many areas.
The system remained active over the NT yesterday, where areas north of Alice Springs received more than 100mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to last night.
As houses were lost in a rapidly moving bushfire on the outskirts of Perth, meteorologists in Sydney tallied up the broken weather records, judging the city's heatwave its longest ever.
Weather experts said it was the same static high-pressure system that helped push Yasi towards the Queensland coast and inland last week that caused the soaring Sydney temperatures. The city sweltered through seven consecutive days of above 30C temperatures last week.
Sydney also recorded its hottest night since 1973 last night. At midnight, the temperature was still 33C in the city, and the mercury dipped to only a still-balmy 28C at 6am. Saturday night was the fifth consecutive night above 24C; before that Sydney had never experienced more than two.
The intense heat continued throughout the morning in Sydney, with the sweltering conditions abating only about lunchtime when a cold front pushed up from Victoria, slashing the temperature by 15C in less than three hours.
At the peak of yesterday's heatwave, even the beach proved too hot for Chris Wallace and his girlfriend, Lara Picone.
But as the cool change approached, the couple returned for a final swim.
"When we heard it was going to get cooler this afternoon, we decided to come down here and get the last of it," Ms Picone said as the couple took a swim at Gordons Bay in Sydney's east.
"We tried to buy a fan yesterday, but they were all sold out."
Weatherwatch meteorologist Don White said the extreme conditions were all, in one way or another, related to Yasi.
"Yasi was a very powerful system," he said.
The town of Mildura in northwest Victoria received about 180mm of rain over the weekend, or almost two-thirds of its annual rainfall, with 147mm falling on Saturday alone.
"They had two months' average rainfall in about 10 minutes," Mr White said. "This will be the fifth consecutive month in which they've had more than 100mm of rainfall.
"In the last 35 years they only had one month with more than 100mm and now they've had five in a row."
Areas around Broken Hill in western NSW and into eastern South Australia received more than 100mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to last night. One gauge reportedly received twice its annual rainfall.
In Wagga Wagga in southern NSW, the body of a man in his 50s was recovered yesterday inside a Toyota Hilux utility, 400m from a flooded creek crossing.
Cooler weather is forecast for Sydney and other parts of NSW until the middle of the week, along with mild and dry conditions in Victoria and South Australia.
Rain will ease in the NT, while thundery rain will return to Queensland -- which had dry weather yesterday -- next week. The outlook for WA is variable.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/remnants-of-yasi-take-us-to-extremes/story-fn59niix-1226001077875
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