Australia evacuates parts of its capital as bushfire conditions return
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[January 22, 2020]
By Byron Kaye and Colin Packham
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Some residents of
Australia's capital Canberra were evacuated briefly on Wednesday after a
bushfire broke out near the airport as searing hot weather ended a few
days of respite and the number of out-of-control blazes surged in the
southeast of the country.
Roads were closed and the authorities told people to leave or stay away
from suburbs east of Canberra, as photos posted on social media showed
gray smoke billowing above the city's suburbs. There were no reports of
injuries or damage, and the warning was downgraded an hour later.
"I can see the smoke from my house," said Kane Cawse, a gym owner, by
telephone as he drove toward his business in the evacuation zone about
14 km (9 miles) from the country's parliament.
"I'm just going to see exactly what's going on, make sure I've got a gym
and make sure that the guys are either safe or out," he added.
In recent weeks, Canberra and the cities of Sydney and Melbourne
experienced air quality rated among the worst in the world under thick
clouds of bushfire smoke.
The fire broke out as a huge dust storm crossed the country's south,
leaving skies deep orange and engulfing some outback towns, the Bureau
of Meteorology said.
Since September, hundreds of wildfires in Australia have killed 29
people as well as an estimated 1 billion native animals, while
incinerating 2,500 homes and a total area of bushland larger than the
size of Austria.
Firefighters had taken advantage of rain and milder temperatures in the
past week to contain blazes, but the respite ended on Wednesday when
high temperatures and winds returned.
An economic survey on Wednesday meanwhile showed the fires were causing
Australians to tighten their purse strings, a sign the natural disaster
is putting pressure on the world's 14th-biggest economy.
Economists said the cost to Australia's A$1.95 trillion ($1.33 trillion)
economy could be as high as A$5 billion ($3.4 billion), shaving 0.25
points off gross domestic product in the December and March quarters,
and potentially prompting the central bank to cut rates as early as
February.
Consumer sentiment in January was 6.2% lower than a year earlier,
according to the Melbourne Institute and Westpac Bank survey released on
Wednesday. Consumer sentiment data is considered a leading indicator,
running ahead of actual spending data.
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The remnants of a destroyed home, burnt in the recent bushfires, is
pictured in Conjola Park, New South Wales, Australia, January 22,
2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
The huge bushfires have cut through the country's east coast during
the peak summer months when many businesses usually rake in earnings
from both domestic and foreign tourists. Agricultural sectors,
particularly the dairy industry, have also been hard hit.
Here are today's key events in the bushfire crisis:
* Suburbs near Canberra Airport were evacuated late on Wednesday as
an emergency level fire burned. There were no reports of injury or
damage.
* The wildfires have killed 29 people, destroyed more than 2,500
homes and razed 11 million hectares (27 million acres) of wilderness
- an area one-third the size of Germany - since September.
* Scores of fires were burning in the states of New South Wales
(NSW) and Victoria on Wednesday. Temperatures in Victoria were
expected to top 32 degrees Celsius (89.6 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday,
leading officials to declare "extreme fire danger" in some areas.
Temperatures in NSW were forecast to hit 40C (104F) on Thursday.
* A Reuters analysis shows that Australian animals living in
specific habitats, such as mountain lizards, leaf-tailed geckos and
pear-shaped frogs, are battling the threat of extinction after
fierce bushfires razed large areas of their homes.
* The air in Sydney is expected to again reach hazardous pollution
levels on Thursday as smoke drifts over the city, the NSW state
government said.
* Players at the Australian Open tennis tournament continued to make
pledges of financial assistance. Among the latest were the seventh
seed, Alexander Zverev, who said he would donate A$10,000 for each
match he wins and pledged his entire prize money of A$4.12 million
if he wins the tournament. American John Isner has pledged 25% of
all his prize money and A$100 for every ace he serves.
(Reporting by Byron Kaye, Colin Packham and Swati Pandey in Sydney;
editing by Jane Wardell and Christian Schmollinger)
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