Canberra authorities have placed the Australian federal capital on alert due to the threat of forest fires in the region. Australian Capital Territory (ACT) chief minister Andrew Barr said the measure would be continued "as long as the risk remains for Canberra."
It is the first time that such a state of alert has been declared in the Australian Capital Territory since 2003, when fires had destroyed nearly half a thousand houses. The main threat to Canberra at the moment is the raging fire in the Oral Valley, which has already reduced almost 180 square kilometers of forest to the south of the city to ashes.
But that was without counting on the heat. Mercury soared to more than 40 degrees Thursday in the state of South Australia, where fire risk alerts were issued. And a heat wave is expected over the Australian capital of 400,000 inhabitants, while fires threaten its southern suburbs. "It could get out of hand," said Andrew Barr. The state of alert is the highest signal that can be sent to the ACT population to tell them to make arrangements. "
National disaster leaves at least 33 dead since September
This heat wave must move east to reach Melbourne and Canberra on Friday, then Sydney, this weekend, where temperatures could reach 45 degrees. Authorities believe that these extreme temperatures, accompanied by dry winds, create the conditions for forest fires in parts of New South Wales and Victoria, where more than 80 fires are still raging.
Forecasters expect this heat wave to be followed by storms, which could help extinguish some fires. However, intense precipitation also poses the risk of floods and flash floods.
The fires occur every year in Australia at the end of the austral winter. But they have been particularly early and intense this year, generating a national disaster that has left at least 33 people dead since September. Since September, an area of more than 100,000 km2, larger than Portugal, has been reduced to ashes and more than 2,000 homes destroyed. Researchers estimate that more than a billion animals have been killed.
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