Tens of thousands of holiday makers raced to evacuate popular seaside towns on A...
MELBOURNE - Tens of thousands of holiday makers raced to evacuate popular seaside towns on Australia’s east coast on Wednesday, fleeing ahead of advancing bushfires, as military ships and helicopters planned missions to rescue thousands more trapped by the blazes.
Major roads were closed due to fire risks, leaving motorists only a handful of escape routes causing lengthy traffic jams. “It is vital, critical,” NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance said on Australian Broadcasting Corp television. “We need everybody to leave. We are going to face a worse day on Saturday than what we have been through.”Huge bushfires have been burning for weeks across Australia, with new blazes sparked into life almost daily by extremely hot and windy conditions in bushland left tinder dry after a three-year drought.
Five military helicopters and two naval ships were en-route to the south coast to back up firefighters, bring in supplies like water and diesel and to evacuate people, the Australian Defense Force said. “We can’t even get fire trucks into some of these communities,” CFA Chief Officer Steve Warrington said. “This is not over by a long way.”
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