Posted on 12/10/2006 4:55:42 PM PST by blam
Outback cracks under assault of the Big Dry
Five years of drought have left Australian land parched and towns on the verge of economic ruin
Phil Mercer in Sydney
Sunday December 10, 2006
The Observer (UK)
A farmer moves his sheep in search of food in drought-stricken New South Wales, Australia. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters
Drought has plunged one of Australia's most famous outback towns to the brink of social and economic collapse. Bourke - heralded as the 'Real Gateway to the Outback' - faces oblivion. Five years of drought has left Bourke facing its worst crisis. Little wonder Australians are calling this prolonged barren spell the 'Big Dry'. The earth in this isolated corner of New South Wales, 500 miles north-west of Sydney, crunches underfoot. Every step stirs a tiny swirl of fine dust.
The land is slowly dying of thirst. Some farms are the size of a small country, yet still they can't produce enough grazing for their livestock. Farmer Ben Mannix is determined to stay until the drought passes, but life is a struggle. 'You fight it,' he said. 'You work through and you pick up your pieces and on you go because breaking down or giving up isn't going to achieve anything.' The ground is cracked. Without decent rain, it's been at the mercy of temperatures that have exceeded 50C.
Even in less extreme times the heat is oppressive. A bone-dry wind dries the back of your throat. A squadron of flies that won't take no for an answer mounts another sortie towards unprotected eyes, mouths and ears. This is the last town before the vast nothingness of the deep interior. There are smaller townships further inland on unsealed tracks but this is where pubs, post offices and newsagents stop.
(Excerpt) Read more at observer.guardian.co.uk ...
It was like flying over the surface of Mars.
How long before the US is held liable (Global Warming) and sued to reimburse everyone?
By Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 1:55am GMT 11/12/2006
More than 3,500 Australian firemen battled the worst bushfires in 70 years in Victoria yesterday as the state experienced its hottest December day in more than half a century.
Australian Firemen look on as a helicopter drops water on bushfires in the Blue Mountains
Soaring temperatures, strong winds and the worst drought on record created "nightmare conditions" for towns across the state, with fears that there could be fatalities unless the blazes are brought under control.
"We may lose lives," said Christine Nixon, the head of Victoria's police force. "We will lose more assets but we will have done the best we can to protect people and this whole environment."
Melbourne was blanketed in smoke so thick that medical authorities warned people with respiratory problems to stay indoors and flights were delayed in and out of the city's airport. A flight from Los Angles had to be diverted to Sydney, 600 miles away. Dozens of villages and towns were threatened with destruction, locals were forced to evacuate and half a million acres of tinderbox-dry bushland were burnt out.
In the mountainous terrain of the state's north-east there were fears that a number of big fires could merge into a 100 mile-long front engulfing more than 1.5 million acres. Firemen were hampered by rugged terrain and a record December temperature of 102F as they used bulldozers to clear forest and scrub to form "containment lines" in an attempt to starve the flames of fuel. The army was drafted in to help civilian authorities as 30 planes and helicopters dumped water on the fires.
They were supported by 350 water tankers and a team of specialist alpine firefighters from New Zealand.
"There is no doubt the fire will hit settlements, the question is which ones," said Stuart Ord, from the environment department.
Steve Bracks, the premier of Victoria, compared the intensity of the bushfires to "Black Friday" in 1939, when fires killed 71 people.
Some areas of Australia have been without significant rainfall for years and figures released last week showed that the country's winter crop was down more than 60 per cent on 2005.
Farm incomes have dropped 70 per cent and support groups reported a sharp rise in the number of farmers committing suicide.
Most of the fires were caused by lightning strikes but some, on the outskirts of Melbourne, were deliberately lit.
"It's just one of the most reprehensible things imaginable at a time when the state is tinderbox dry," said Mr Bracks.
"The full force of the law will be brought to bear to find these people, to bring them to justice."
The last deadly bushfires were in January last year, when 22 people lost their lives in South Australia. In 2003 four people were killed and 530 homes destroyed in the capital, Canberra. The fires laid waste to an area three times the size of Britain.
blam, thanks for the post.
Brian, ping to #5
<< .... said Mr Bracks:
"The full force of the law will be brought to bear to find these people, to bring them to justice." >>
That will at least distract the effective communist, Bracks -- the bigoted bastard -- and his state's abjectly politicized police force from persecuting Christians on behalf of islamanazi bigots.
Meanwhile my (70 acre) place in the bush -- 1,000 square kilometers of it, outside of Coonabarabran and, as the stoned crow flies, not too far from the back of Bourke, is a tinder box too and is at real threat from bush fires.
BUMPping
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