Wildfires in Australia’s New South Wales swept across thousands of hectares of bushland, leading authorities to call for evacuations under the highest danger level for thousands of residents in the country’s most populous state.
The warning applied to the Phegans Bay and Woy Woy area on the state’s central coast, home to more than 350,000 people and roughly 45km north of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, reports RTE.
Up to 16 houses were destroyed as bushfires moved through the region, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“Leave now if the path is clear towards Woy Woy,” the state’s Rural Fire Service advised on its website, reports RTE.
A heatwave in New South Wales today, pushing temperatures to 42C, intensified the fire threat in the region, the Bureau of Meteorology noted.
“Please look out for each other and follow advice from authorities,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement, reports RTE.
More than 50 bushfires were alight across the state late yesterday, authorities said, including one in the Upper Hunter region—also at the highest emergency level—which had burned nearly 10,000 hectares.
Officials have cautioned that this Australian summer is expected to bring a high-risk bushfire season after several quieter years, reports RTE.
The “BlackSummer” fires of 2019-2020 scorched an area comparable in size to Turkey and resulted in 33 fatalities, reports RTE.
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