To all my readers around the world. Australia needs your help and donations are greatly appreciated particularly to the wildlife organisations and the fire and rescue services organisations.
If you would like to make a donation or assist these organisations in anyway please ensure that you donate to these organisations or approach them directly as there are always scammers trying to take advantage of disaster situations.
Just an update of how bad the Australian bush fires are around the Eastern and South Eastern states of Australia i.e. Qld NSW Vic & SA.
As you probably know I live in Sydney and am lucky where I live however some of my customers and even work collegues were not so lucky - speaking to some of my customers, they had to evaculate and have lost their homes outside of Sydney. At least one of my work collegues had to evaculate near the beginning of the bushfire season but were lucky to escape to a friends house until it was safe to return to their house in the Northern suburbs of Sydney. Schools backed up onto bushland were shut as a precaution during the inital fires in NSW back in August September - luckily schools are now all closed for Summer vacation.
We have not had rain in Sydney for several months now and when it did rain it was just a very brief sprinkle hardly enough to fill a glass of water. Temperatures yesterday reached 50 degrees Celsius in some Western suburbs of NSW. It was so hot in Sydney yesterday I did not leave home.
Today the temperature has dropped slightly and it looks slightly overcast however there is no sign of any rain and it is still forcast to reach the 40 degree mark with respiratory distress a constant concern due to the constant smoke blanketing Sydney as these severe bushfires continue to burn and spread along the Eastern and South Eastern coastline.
Sydney is currently on level 2 water restrictions however some country towns are on level 6 water restrictions.
Power and telecommunications have been cut off in some country areas although efforts are in place to restore these essential services asap.
I just heard on the news for people to avoid using non essential appliances such as washers and dryers, dishwashers and ovens to ease the strain on the snowy mountain hydroelectric station until assessment is made on the extent of damage from the fires on it.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-residents-urged-to-cut-power-use-as-fire-threatens-snowy-hydro-20200104-p53ova.html#ampshare=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nsw-residents-urged-to-cut-power-use-as-fire-threatens-snowy-hydro-20200104-p53ova.html
( apologies the link function doesn't work very well on this blog but I have tested the above link and it did open)
The fires have spread throughout country NSW, country Victoria and country South Australia. Even parts of Western Australia are on fire. A lot of the country towns around the Southern Highlands and the alpine areas ( the high country) in NSW/Victoria of Hotham & Mt Buller have been on fire and there is concern that the 2 fires in NSW and Victoria would join up and spread across the border.
Kangaroo Island off South Australia is so severe, workers on the island had to seek refuge in underground bunkers from the fires. Thousands of wildlife species especially the koalas have been injured or killed by the fires. 2 people have died on Kangaroo Island today.
Every news bulletin concentrates on the Australian fires. There is very little other news at the moment.
If you have family and friends in Australia and read my blog please contact them and ensure they are OK. These are the worse bushfires ever we have had in Australia and it will only get worse not just this Summer but in future Summers to come.
Thank you for your attention and passing this blog around.
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