State of emergency declared in two Australian states, catastrophic threat due to bushfires

Monday, November 11, 2019

In New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland at least three people are dead and thousands have been displaced by three days of dangerous weather conditions.

It has been predicted by the officials that the worst danger will come on Tuesday in the areas surrounding Sydney which is the nation’s largest city.

Across the two states more than 120 bushfires are burning.

The blazes have scorched 970,000 hectares of land in NSW and destroyed 150 houses. So far nine homes have been razed in Queensland.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that everybody has to be on alert no matter where you are and everybody has to assume the worst and we cannot allow complacency to creep in.

In a response that has drawn criticism, Australia’s conservative government has refused to be drawn on whether climate change could have contributed to the fires.

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday that his thoughts were with those who had lost their lives and their families.

For the first time since the new fire warnings were introduced a decade ago NSW fire authorities have issued the maximum level of warning. This was after the Australia’s deadly Black Saturday disaster.

Across the greater Sydney area and regions to the city’s north and south the ‘catastrophic’ warning is in place. By Tuesday the temperatures are expected to reach 37 C and conditions are predicted to be worse than on Friday when the firestorms will start tearing through eastern Australia.

NSW Rural Fire Service said in a statement that under these conditions, these fires will spread quickly and threaten homes and lives.

According to the officials the conditions in Queensland is less severe but it could deteriorate later in the week.

Officials assessed whether it was safe for thousands of people in both the states to return home as they spent the night in evacuation centres.

After Queensland, NSW declared a state of emergency which allows the officials additional powers to take control over government agencies.

On Tuesday, hundreds of schools across NSW will remain shut and  a weary emergency crews has prepared for a fresh onslaught. It was announced by Morrison that the military could also be called upon to support the 1,300 firefighters working in the two states.

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