Australia battles fires and floods
2008-01-07 09:08
Canberra - Australians battled both fires and floods on Monday after days of intense summer heat and storms.
Flood waters isolated several communities in eastern Australia in the states of New South Wales and Queensland and also in the tropical Northern Territory, which was lashed by a cyclone over the weekend, emergency services reported.
Fires
The major highway from the east to the west coast city of Perth remained closed on Monday because of a blaze that remained out of control, eight days after three truck drivers died in an attempt to drive through a wall of fire.
Federal parliamentarian Barry Haase, whose 2.3 million-square kilometre Outback electorate is described as the largest in the world, called for the Great Eastern Highway to be reopened despite the danger.
The closure of the highway, which runs through Haase's electorate, was proving costly for interstate trade, he said.
But state official Peter Keppel said the fire, which has burned 41 000 hectares of scrubland since it started on December 28, remained dangerous.
With temperatures expected to reach 40°C on Monday and northerly winds forecast, the fire could again cross the highway, which is closed between Southern Cross, 370km east of Perth, and Coolgardie, 560km east of Perth, Keppel said.
In southeast Australia, water-dropping aircraft were used Monday to attack a 10-hectare fire in steep terrain in a national park in Victoria state.
Floods
North of Victoria in New South Wales state, thousands of people remained cut off by floods, State Emergency Service spokesperson Phil Campbell said.
"The threat in terms of rising floodwaters has eased," Campbell said. "The greater concern for us is the ongoing isolation of those several thousand people who will remain isolated in some instances for up to week."
Those isolated include 1 000 music fans who attended a four-day music festival near Tenterfield that was scheduled to end on Monday, he said. They will remain trapped by a washed-away bridge until Tuesday, Campbell said.
Further north in Queensland state, flood waters were receding from weekend peaks.
Emergency volunteers were being airlifted to Queensland farms isolated by floods to deliver supplies to stranded residents, the State Emergency Service reported.
West of Queensland in the Northern Territory town of Katherine, 20 people took shelter overnight at a school in preparation for flooding expected on Monday, Police Superintendent Peter Gordon said.
- AP