Aussie fire coverage

The long BBC America radio report this morning on the Australian fires was just a muddled mess that left me entirely confused. Thank goodness I've still got That Happy Feeling in my RSS feed as he's got a report (via Facebook no less) that paints the picture well. Air temperatures are as high as 118 and the death toll is expected to hit 200. Very scary stuff. Two excerpts:

One man related the fire as an enormous ball that flew down the hill in seconds; others said it was like a tornado or a cyclone. Others said it was raining fire; another said it was like a freight train. They describe the roaring, crackling sounds and intense, radiant heat. A man said that his water tank holding 5000 gallons of water boiled. Residents who sought refuge in Jacuzzis or water tanks perished.

And here:

What is hard to describe to those not from Australia is the vastness of the areas that have been burned. The fire commissioner reported that there were 450 fires burning; so far 330,000 hectares have been burned, and more than 700 houses lost. For those of you in the US, Victoria is about the size of Texas, I think. Imagine if fires broke out simultaneously near Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Wichita Falls. And then gale force winds blew embers so that new fires erupted 30 miles away. And lightning ignited more, inaccessible fires in remote national parks in other parts of the state. The walls of flame are miles across and 15 stories high, moving at gale force speed.

Labels: media

- posted by Amy @ 2/09/2009 06:23:00 AM