Victorians knew before yesterday that it was going to be hot. But they did not know that fires in the north of the State would burn out an electrical connection with NSW which is there as a back-up, just as they needed that back-up power.
As a result, a bushfire hundreds of Kilometres from Melbourne, caused blackouts in Melbourne, and caused chaos on the suburban train network.On the bushfire front, it is put this way: 8 homes were destroyed yesterday, a million hectares are said to be burning (I suspect that is likely to be incorrect - that 1.05 million hectares have been burnt this season - but it is how it is reported in The Age today). See the Aus-Emaps bushfire hotspots map.
Howard's view on Bushfires
Just remember, folks, that John Howard wants you to be "relaxed and comfortable". And further, remember that he does not believe in Global Warming. He said:"Mr Howard said there was not enough evidence to suggest climate change had caused extra bushfires in Australia. "I don't think anyone could ever prove that either way." He said that, just one month ago. See the full report in The Age, December 16, 2006.
See my impression of John Howard and his "weasel words" on this subject, in a previous blog entry.
2 comments:
And it looks as though the forecast is threatening worse conditions down there.
At least Thredbo seems to be getting good news.
Hi Colin
They are now starting to talk about this year as equally bad as 1939 (although in those days communications were much worse, and roads bad). From what I have read, those fires were much more concentrated (in time), whereas these fires have now been spread over a month, already.
Let's hope that it does not get as bad as they are predicting.
Welcome back, anyway.
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