Australia fires – Food and water running out as navy has 24 hours to rescue thousands stranded in humanitarian crisis
AUSTRALIA is facing a "humanitarian crisis" as food, water, and fuel begin to run out while out-of-control bushfires continue to spread.
Thousands of people have been given 24 hours to leave the worst hit areas, with a fleet of ships and helicopters now deployed to bring supplies and evacuate stranded residents.
The death toll from the fires, which have raged across the Australian continent in recent months, has now risen to 17.
Among the worst hit areas has been the region surrounding Sydney, where many roads are now impassable and petrol stations and surf clubs have been turned into evacuation areas.
A naval ship has now docked outside the town of Mallacoota on Australia's southeastern coast to begin evacuating some of the people trapped there.
The HMAS Choules, which arrived at around 10am local time, is able to carry 700 passengers, while some 4,000 people are currently stranded on the beach area of the town.
Helicopters are also going to be used to fly firefighters into areas across the state that have become inaccessible.
Officials have told residents of the South Coast, the region between Sydney and the country's southern coast, to leave the area if they don't need to stay because "it is not safe".
"Monstrous" queues of people trying to stock up on supplies have been reported outside service stations, while state minister for transport Andrew Constance told ABC that today would mark the "largest relocation out of the region ever".
Among the total death toll are seven people who died in just 24 hours of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Three volunteer firefighters are also among those killed, while authorities have warned the fatalities could rise further.
A total of 1,200 homes have been destroyed so far and five million hectares of land have been burned.
More than 2,500 firefighters worked through New Year's Day in an effort to beat the flames, the smoke from which has drifted to Canberra and sparked health warnings.
Canberra, the capital of Australia, yesterday recorded air quality more than 22 times the hazardous rating.
But the poor conditions did not stop at the border.
The thick smoke that has been suffocating New South Wales and Victoria has now drifted east to shroud New Zealand, with locals waking up to a red sun and eerie orange skies.
Met Service forecaster Cameron Coutts said the intensity of the Australian bushfires in the past few days had fuelled the New Zealand haze, and this was the fourth time this summer New Zealand had been affected by the neighbouring fires across the Tasman.
Mr Coutts said: “The last couple of days the fires in Australia have picked up in their intensity and produced a significant amount of smoke.”
“Most of it is at high levels once it reaches New Zealand. There is the odd report of people being able to smell smoke.”
Tourists holidaying in the town of Wanaka were the first to notice the haze, describing it as “apocalyptic”.
Australian Officials have warned that the worst is far from over, with harsher weather conditions to return by the weekend.
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said: "Weather conditions on Saturday will be as bad as they were."
Victoria emergency commissioner Andrew Crisp added: "We have three months of hot weather to come. We do have a dynamic and a dangerous fire situation across the state."
The early and devastating start to Australia's summer wildfires has led authorities to rate this season the worst on record.
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