(no subject)
I hope the Victorians here and their loved ones are okay. Absolutely shocking news, and it's only going to get worse once authorities finish going through the towns :(
VICTORIANS today awoke to the greatest bushfire catastrophe since Ash Wednesday. A statewide inferno that may have claimed up to 40 lives is still burning out of control.
Police, who last night were finally able to reach the blackened ruins of towns and communities, confirmed that 14 people had died. Six people who perished in a single vehicle in Kinglake, in the upper Yarra Valley, may have been from one family.
But police conceded they had little idea of how many others could be interred inside their ruined homes. Today they will continue the search for at least 25 people who were unaccounted for last night.
As more than 3000 firefighters and thousands of residents in dozens of communities last night battled to save homes, it emerged that hundreds of properties had already been lost.
Wandong, near Kilmore, suffered extensive losses and at least four people are known to have died.
Fifty houses were reportedly lost in the Redesdale area near Bendigo.
Police suspect some fires were deliberately lit.
The fires were driven by hot winds of more than 100km/h, and record temperatures that peaked at 46.4 degrees in Melbourne, hotter even than Black Friday in 1939.
Premier John Brumby described it as a "a deeply sad and shocking tragedy - an incredible and terrible loss".
"My heart, and I am sure the hearts of all Victorians, goes to the families and to the firefighters and volunteers who continue to battle the fires," he said.
"It is just a day I hope in my life time I never see repeated."
Exhausted firefighters battled blazes that spread in a thick band across the entire state. A squally change in the afternoon simply changed the direction of many fires, opening up new fronts, and new threats.
All 14 confirmed dead were victims of the single most devastating fire, which started near Kilmore, north of Melbourne, before turning south-easterly, burning dozens of homes in Wandong, and threatening Whittlesea. With the afternoon change, the fire turned on the town of Kinglake, isolating it as trees blocked the road. Hundreds of residents were sheltering in Kinglake's CFA station last night.
That 46.4C for Melbourne, hottest day on record, is 116F.
VICTORIANS today awoke to the greatest bushfire catastrophe since Ash Wednesday. A statewide inferno that may have claimed up to 40 lives is still burning out of control.
Police, who last night were finally able to reach the blackened ruins of towns and communities, confirmed that 14 people had died. Six people who perished in a single vehicle in Kinglake, in the upper Yarra Valley, may have been from one family.
But police conceded they had little idea of how many others could be interred inside their ruined homes. Today they will continue the search for at least 25 people who were unaccounted for last night.
As more than 3000 firefighters and thousands of residents in dozens of communities last night battled to save homes, it emerged that hundreds of properties had already been lost.
Wandong, near Kilmore, suffered extensive losses and at least four people are known to have died.
Fifty houses were reportedly lost in the Redesdale area near Bendigo.
Police suspect some fires were deliberately lit.
The fires were driven by hot winds of more than 100km/h, and record temperatures that peaked at 46.4 degrees in Melbourne, hotter even than Black Friday in 1939.
Premier John Brumby described it as a "a deeply sad and shocking tragedy - an incredible and terrible loss".
"My heart, and I am sure the hearts of all Victorians, goes to the families and to the firefighters and volunteers who continue to battle the fires," he said.
"It is just a day I hope in my life time I never see repeated."
Exhausted firefighters battled blazes that spread in a thick band across the entire state. A squally change in the afternoon simply changed the direction of many fires, opening up new fronts, and new threats.
All 14 confirmed dead were victims of the single most devastating fire, which started near Kilmore, north of Melbourne, before turning south-easterly, burning dozens of homes in Wandong, and threatening Whittlesea. With the afternoon change, the fire turned on the town of Kinglake, isolating it as trees blocked the road. Hundreds of residents were sheltering in Kinglake's CFA station last night.
That 46.4C for Melbourne, hottest day on record, is 116F.