australia is on fire and flooded

while most of you in the northern hemisphere are freezing your ass's off, here's whats been happening in australia

Our darkest day
VICTORIA has witnessed this country's greatest natural disaster. Worse than Black Friday. Worse than Ash Wednesday.
That is the grim sum of a catastrophe that already exceeds all previous Australian natural disasters — and which threatens to grow worse.
The towns of Kinglake and Marysville have been wiped out and around the state more people have died than in any previous natural catastrophe — one so lethal that authorities are treating it like a major terrorist attack.
The first of several interstate victim identification teams arrived yesterday to assist Victoria Police and coronial staff under a terrorist contingency plan framed in response to the September 11 terror attacks of 2001.
More than 70 people died in the Black Friday fires of 1939 — and 75 on Ash Wednesday in 1983, 47 of them Victorians. But as the official death list topped 84 last night, senior police sources told The Age they feared the final figure would be much greater.
There are so many bodies scattered in fire zones around the state that it could take police days to find and retrieve them all.
Bodies in burned-out cars will have to be removed so that roads can be opened to the public; gutted buildings can be combed for remains of the missing.

Victoria's morgue was full last night — with hospitals and universities being asked to store bodies until formal identifications could be made. Some of the scores of injured people in hospital were not expected to survive.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday promised help from the army, which has sent heavy earthmoving equipment to cut fire breaks near Yea and has sent bedding to Warragul.
"Hell and all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria … many good people now lie dead," Mr Rudd said. "Many others lie injured."
Premier John Brumby launched a bushfire appeal fund in partnership with the Federal Government and the Red Cross.
He said the weather conditions that spawned 400 fires across the state were "much worse" than those that produced Ash Wednesday or Black Friday: "It's just a day, I hope in my lifetime, (that) is never repeated."
Three schools have been destroyed by the bushfires and dozens more will be closed today. Students and staff at Strathewen Primary School, near Kinglake, Middle Kinglake Primary and Marysville Primary School have sought counselling after thee schools were razed over the weekend
Worst hit was the once-pretty alpine town of Marysville, reduced to a tangled mess of smoking rubble and twisted iron.
Most residents were evacuated to nearby Alexandra — itself under threat from fire last night. But some of those who left too late or stayed to fight the fire lost their lives.
The fire that began at the old Murrindindi sawmill near Yea earlier on Saturday raced across the Black Spur and destroyed the hamlet of Narbethong and then Marysville, house by house, street by street.
In an hour, Marysville was no more. Every public building including the police station, post office, telephone exchange and much-loved guest houses and a hotel, had been destroyed.
Worse was that some of the gutted cars and buildings had dead bodies in them. Names of the dead and missing were not available last night but the few locals who stayed and survived talked numbly yesterday of one firefighter's family being killed, of an age pensioner dying at home and of several cars being found with human remains in them. They hoped the toll was as few as five — but it could be much higher, they said.
Third-generation local Leigh Jowett saved the old house in which he had grown up — then helped his neighbours save theirs. "There might only be 15 or 20 houses left in Marysville," Mr Jowett said. "There's only three left in Falls Road — and the whole main street is gone apart from one motel."

Although the worst might be over, the danger is not past. The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted dangerous conditions for much of the week, warning of further lightning strikes and strong winds. Fire danger would still be "very high" from midday to 6pm on most days.

- THE death toll from Victoria's devastating bushfires climbed to 84 last night and is expected to rise as emergency services finally gain access to many razed areas

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http://images.theage.com.au/2009/02/...cars-420x0.jpg

tonight as i watched the sun set i saw the whole sky was red from the smoke from the fires
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while all these fires are happening, up in the northern parts of australia we have major flooding

Floods force mass evacuations
Emergency accommodation centres have opened in north Queensland as floodwaters, which have isolated towns and shut schools, continue to rise in the aftermath of former tropical cyclone Ellie.
Ingham residents endured torrential rainfall as Ellie crossed the coast at Mission Beach, south of Cairns, yesterday.
Water police and members of the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service aboard a swift water rescue boat are also attempting to save the caretaker of a property at McCrossin park, 80 kilometres west of Townsville, where the man was found stranded on top of his ute this morning.
Authorities are bracing for worsening conditions, with torrential rainfall set to continue today as the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Ellie move south.
The deluge cut off the Bruce Highway both north and south of Ingham, were 100 millimetres of rain has fallen in the past 24 hours.
Hinchinbrook Shire Council spokesman Dan Hoban said Ingham's main street disappeared beneath flood waters about midday yesterday as Palm Creek, a main tributary of the Herbert River, reached its peak of 12.2 metres.

LINK

its been so hot here lately that it looks like autumn cos leaves are drying up and falling off trees

most of the fires appear to be work of arsonists
i hope when the arsonists are caught they "fall down the stairs" a couple of times while in custody

Are you okay, Grebo?

What the fuck happened? Huge wild fires?

Also, hope you're okay.

arsonists on top of fires... it's a mess.

I have an email into David Thrussell of Snog as, while I'm not 100% sure, I think he's in Melbourne (bottom tip of the fires). What better report then from the front lines along with Grebo.

wow................

This is awful. I hope you and your loved ones are alright.

Australia has caught the FL disease. If it's not flooded, it's on fire. I feel for you man. Here's hoping none of your loved ones gets caught up in the nasty.

*lights a candle for AUS*

~K

luckily my family members in the country arent near it.
theres a wierd sad vibe across the country, its like a collective mourning


link

173 Dead, Towns Ruined, Police Chase Arsonists

THE death toll from the Victoria fires catastrophe leapt to 173 overnight as authorities found bodies clustered together where people fleeing the flames or trying to save their homes had been overwhelmed.
Twenty-four fires were still burning early this morning and towns remained under threat as authorities moved deeper into the ruins of those communities hit in the fire's first wave, when more than 700 homes were lost. The death toll from the bushfires is certain to rise further.
Bushfire relief funds were receiving $1 million in donations per hour yesterday, with $15 million pledged by last night.
Victorian Premier John Brumby has vowed to rebuild the razed communities, but as the toll mounts the the grim fates of many of their people are becoming clearer. Thirty-five people died in the small town of Kinglake alone, while 22 deaths had been confirmed in St Andrews out of a population of just 1500.
Strathewen, with only 200 people prior to the bushfires, had lost 30 residents in the last official count.
Firefighters have dubbed the tiny town the "Valley of Death". A bridge out of town was damaged, leaving those still there as the firestorm swept through with little chance of survival.
Three bodies were found crowded in a bath. They must have hoped the water would save them but instead it would have boiled in the intense heat.
Other bodies were found in burnt-out cars, sitting stricken on the road where the fires caught up to their drivers' desperate attempts to outrun the danger.
Further north, in Flowerdale, residents consider themselves the forgotten town. While authorities have been working their way into other towns, Flowerdale's survivors have been left to cope on their own.
"It's like we got left off the map. A lot of the locals are really upset. It kind of felt very lonely, as if we didn't f---ing exist," one angry resident told The Australian, whose reporters were the first into the town since Saturday night.
Meanwhile concerned relatives were using the Herald Sun's bushfire message board to post pleas for information about the whereabouts of loved ones. Some were reunited, while for others the agonising wait for news remained.

Arson
Whole towns in the ravaged region were being treated as crime scenes. Police tape surrounds buildings - or what remains standing of them.
Police said they were closing in on an arsonist thought responsible for the deadly Churchill-Jeeralang fire in Gippsland and recent fires at nearby Boolarra.
Police believed the same man who lit the devastating Delburn Complex of fires around nearby Boolarra last month, destroying 29 houses and more than 6000ha, was also responsible for the Churchill blaze.
It was expected police would release later today an image of a man sought for questioning over the fires.
Specialist teams used in the aftermath of the Bali bombings were continuing the gruesome task of identifying victims as hundreds of reinforcement firefighters were heading from interstate to relieve crews which had been working nearly non-stop since the emergency began.
The army now has more than 400 soldiers working alongside emergency services.
In some rare good news for the embattled crews, a fire south of Bendigo was reported to have been contained this morning. But a wind change forecast for later today could fan the flames of other fires.

Bushfire policy
Mr Brumby said yesterday a royal commission would be held into the fires and the bushfire policy that promoted either leaving early or staying to defend your property.
"I think our policy has served us well in what I call normal conditions," Mr Brumby said last night.
"These are unbelievable circumstances."
In Marysville, Mr Brumby said it looked as though a bomb had gone off in the once picturesque town. "I have never seen anything like this in my life. It is a mixture of fire, hurricane and cyclone - houses, trees just snapped in half."
For the first time, Mr Brumby linked the fires to global warming: "There's clear evidence now that the climate is becoming more extreme."

http://www.news.com.au/common/imaged...6476851,00.jpg
http://www.news.com.au/common/imaged...6476344,00.jpg
http://www.news.com.au/common/imaged...6476308,00.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e1...tion/Koala.jpg

So does this mean I can get a deal on citizenship now?

damn..............that's a fire

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keiko

Australia has caught the FL disease. If it's not flooded, it's on fire. I feel for you man. Here's hoping none of your loved ones gets caught up in the nasty.

*lights a candle for AUS*

~K

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I thought the Florida disease was something one could catch off Don Johnson ;)

Yes the floods up further north from me are extreme and getting worse. The fires down south are awful and there's more grim news to come once they start sifting the ashes. The obvious irony is that if you could combine the incessant rain in one place with the fires in another it would all work out nicely. I'm sort of half way in between and all's cool but I wish the "nice" climactic conditions I'm personally experiencing could be dispersed to those who desperately need them.

Finally got word from David Thrussell (you know him as SNOG, SOMA, Black Lung) - So far he's ok - fire was 20 mins away from him at one point and winds and heat were so intense that apparently one of his sheds exploded - Assuming things have died down there, all should be getting under control... spooky.

it's making big news over here on the other side of the world in the UK, terrible stuff, you're a tough and optimistic lot though.

I glad everyone we know in Aus is okay, I had few friends in Melbourne and Queensland. They are okay the 1 in Queensland was visting his son in the US nice vacation news right

I think the US should be sending our fire teams to help the Aussies..We have the best in the world, we deal with fires every year here. For a while there we where not allowing nature to take it course with fire in the wild. The US had some really horrible forest fires in the early 90s I believe because of that action. The same thing happen again in the Florida Fires just a year ago.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bacchus88

I think the US should be sending our fire teams to help the Aussies..We have the best in the world, we deal with fires every year here.

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thats really funny cos im always hearing about aussie firefighters being sent over to help with the forest fires in the USA



fire location map

interview with a arsonist

of course with any tragedy the scumbags are appearing, in the news ive heard of looters, fake charity collectors, a fireguy had his uniform stolen while he slept, a fake fireman telling people to evacuate (not the one who stole the uniform) and people who have property but not houses out there claiming charity & cash intended for the people living there

death toll could be higher than 300

i am amazed at how the country has opened it hearts (and wallets) for the victims, last night i heard 4.5 million has been raised in less than a week
a local independant radio station did a collection and ended up sending 5 trucks of stuff (mostly toiletries)
you can hear snippets of conversations on the street and 95% of the time you will hear the word "fire" mentioned as you pass by.

http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ff...y__600x382.jpg

:( fucking hell, when will it stop! :confused:

Disaster declared with a virtual inland sea covering a million square kilometres

TWO-thirds of Queensland has been disaster-declared with a virtual inland sea covering a million square kilometres - the size of South Australia.
Seven people are dead, most washed away in raging torrents, hundreds are homeless and thousands have lost all of their possessions in the biggest flooding event in three decades, The Courier-Mail reports.
Flood refugee Katie Price, a mother of seven, has no home and nowhere to go.
She is one of thousands of flood-affected north Queenslanders counting the cost as receding floodwaters expose an estimated state-wide $300 million damage bill.
"It has been a living nightmare," said Ms Price, 29, whose young family are the last remaining flood refugees sleeping on the gymnasium floor in hardest-hit Ingham.
"There was so much water my roof collapsed," Ms Price said.
"We had nowhere to go because our little township was cut off. All we could do was sit in the flooded house for 10 days watching water pour out the light sockets."
Her story is familiar to the 12,000 flood-weary residents in the Ingham district where rotting piles of couches, whitegoods and clothing line the streets.
"The stench of the flood mud is gut-wrenching. It is everywhere," said Halifax father-of-four Tony Lewis.
"We have all got cabin fever from being stuck in the house unable to move for two weeks," he said.
Unsung hero Frank Demarco said his fishing village of Taylors Beach was cut off for 10 days until he was able to co-ordinate helicopter resupply to the 200, mostly elderly, residents.
"We were the forgotten town," Mr Demarco said.
"It was a schmozzle. There need to be some lessons learnt in how to manage disasters. We had helicopters landing to deliver one package of pills, but no bread or fresh supplies."

link

Quote:

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Originally Posted by grebo

http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ff...y__600x382.jpg

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It never ceases to strike me that some thing so great and terrible can also be so beautiful, and it makes me wonder if the beauty would still be so terrible if fire wasn't so destructive...

~K

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keiko

It never ceases to strike me that some thing so great and terrible can also be so beautiful, and it makes me wonder if the beauty would still be so terrible if fire wasn't so destructive...

~K

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Maybe I'm not understanding your intention, but did you just effectively say, "I wonder if bad stuff would be bad if it wasn't so bad?"