The weather in Australia has gone mad. Severe flooding in Queensland, worst for years whereas in Victoria at least
50 people have lost their lives in the bushfires raging through the state. Whole townships have been razed. Also at least 80 people have been admitted to hospital with severe burns. And the sad part is most of the fires were started by arsonisits.Edna in Sydney
Edna in Sydney
hello Edna,
I spent the afternoon in tears watching footage of the fires - absolutely tragic. So far, Perth's summer has not been too bad. A 3 week heatwave was less than enjoyable, but we've enjoyed the cooler weather that followed. Alas this week is going to be a shocker with close to 40 all week. At the end of the week I am due to have a hysterectomy, so hoping for much cooler weather for a couple of weeks while I recover from that (can't be worse than last illness where I lost a part of my tongue to cancer, and 5 days before that surgery I broke my right arm requiring a pin - and all in the January when it was HOT HOT HOT).
Take Care
Joanne in Perth, W. Australia
I've been reading about your woes down under. How horrible.
Cheryl
Really sounds horrible for so many, and the land. Trying to track down my cousin and her family - she lives in Galong in NSW. Small town.
Sorry about the late sympathy - but it's been a crowded week....
Ellice
I have been reading about this on various blogs. There seems to be general agreement that this was a disaster waiting to happen, brought on by the "greenies"; i.e. environmentalists. Apparently the aboriginals have known for millenia that in this part of Australia, you either have a whole series of small fires, or one ginormous one. The environmentalists stopped anyone cutting down eucalyptus trees, for the sake of the environment. Eventually the fuel load reached the critical level. All that was then required was for a one in 30 years or so weather event to happen, and the result is history. There is a story of one man who, a few years ago, hired a bulldozer, and cleared a fire break around his house. He was taken to court, and fined 50,000 dollars, plus 50,000 dollars in legal fees. After the fire, his was the only house to survive. Now he feels he ought to get his money back. All in all, a terrible, but avoidable, catastrophy. Jim.
This sounds very similar to the large, fast and scary forest fire in the summer of 2007 in the Lake Tahoe area of California. The government agency responsible for environmental issues in the area decided that clearing pine needles and small trees and shrubs in the area near your home - as prescribed by the forestry and fire departments - was not environmentally correct. They had become so strict that people were fined for doing practically anything so people stopped clearing because they couldn't afford to keep being punished.
Enter hot weather, high winds, an illegal camp fire and POOF - worst fire ever. Over 250 homes completely destroyed. My in-laws lost their house and every single tree in the immediate area is completely gone - not much of a forest any more.
What's even more annoying is that although the building dept. said they would rush through everyone's permits to rebuild their house in the same spots - it took over a year just to get a building permit - for the exact same structure. One of the main reasons? The same environmental agency stating the opposite of just about every other agency involved.....arrrrgggggghhhhhhh.
MelissaD
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