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Relief as Rain Falls Over Australian Bushfires

posted by janrinok on Saturday January 18 2020, @08:26AM   
from the better-than-none-at-all dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The fires, unprecedented for Australia in terms of duration and intensity, have claimed 28 lives and killed an estimated billion animals. Sustained hot weather and rare periods of light rain in the affected areas have deepened the crisis.

Downpours on Thursday in the state of New South Wales, where many of the worst fires have burnt, offered hope that dozens of blazes could be brought under control.

"Relief is here for a number of firefighters working across NSW," the state's Rural Fire Service said in a social media post accompanying footage of rain falling in a burning forest.

"Although this rain won't extinguish all fires, it will certainly go a long way towards containment."

Before the rains, there were 30 blazes burning out of control in New South Wales.

Along the south coast of the state, locals who witnessed towns and forests being destroyed in recent weeks expressed cautious hope.

"We're thrilled and so relieved to have some dampness in the air because it makes things safe for a little while," Virginia Connor told AFP near the town of Nowra.

"But we need more, we need lots more."

-- submitted from IRC

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Original Submission

• If it's not burning it's flooding If it's not burning it's flooding (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @08:54AM (3 children)

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @08:54AM (#944922)

  that is before you meet the wildlife.

  Tell me again why half of India wants to move there?

  Starting Score:	0		points
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• Re:If it's not burning it's flooding (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:04AM

  by MostCynical (2589) on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:04AM (#944926) Journal

  Maybe 457 [homeaffairs.gov.au] is cheaper and easier than H1B [workpermit.com]

  --
  "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

  Parent

• Re:If it's not burning it's flooding (Score: 5, Informative) by c0lo on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:18AM

  by c0lo (156) on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:18AM (#944929) Journal

  Special edition this year

  'Devastating' fish deaths in north NSW [murrayvalleystandard.com.au]

  Bellbrook resident Arthur Bain said tens of thousands of dead fish lined a 60-kilometre stretch of the river northwest of Kempsey on Saturday.

  He said heavy rain which fell at the Apsley River near Walcha earlier in the week washed ash and sediment through the catchment and depleted oxygen levels.

  "It could be tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands," he told AAP on Thursday.

  "It's devastating. It's unprecedented."

  Residents put a water pump in the river to help boost oxygen and keep some fish alive.

  Suncorp and IAG temporarily stop selling insurance in fire-affected areas of Victoria and NSW [theguardian.com]

  Two of Australia’s biggest insurers, Suncorp and IAG, have temporarily stopped selling insurance policies across large swathes of Victoria and some areas in New South Wales affected by bushfires.

  As of 1.30pm on Tuesday, Suncorp, which sells insurance under its own name and other brands including Aami and GIO, had 41 postcodes in Victoria and six in NSW under embargo, a spokeswoman said.

  An IAG spokesman said that yesterday afternoon the company, which operates under brand names including NRMA Insurance and CGU, had 20 postcodes under embargo across the two states.

  Embargoes are a common industry practice when insurers decide either not to sell new policies in disaster areas or to deny claims on new policies in such areas.
  ...
  “We are constantly reviewing areas that are embargoed and aim to lift restrictions once the imminent threat has passed,” she said.

  IAG’s spokesman said the company would still sell insurance policies to embargoed areas.

  “However, they won’t be able to make a claim for the specific risk that is included in the embargo until that embargo is lifted,” he said

  Since 8 November, 13,750 bushfire insurance claims have been made, totalling $1.34bn, Insurance Council of Australia statistics show.

  Australia's bushfires will create big problems for fresh drinking water [nationalgeographic.com.au]

  SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES - In the wake of the enormous fires that have razed huge swathes of drought-stricken Australia, scientists fear that when rains eventually fall, they will wash charred debris into rivers, dams, and the ocean, killing wildlife and even tainting the drinking supplies of major cities, such as Sydney.

  For many weeks, ash, soot, and blackened gum tree leaves have collected along the shorelines of Sydney’s beaches, clogging the waves and lapping in the tide. Originating in fires blazing in forested areas to the west, the debris has been carried on the breeze along with the pungent bushfire smoke that blanketed Australia’s largest city for much of December.

  But what has carried on the wind is just a taste of the huge quantities of debris that are likely to wash into rivers once there are heavy downpours. As of press time, more than 26 million acres—an area bigger than Portugal—have now burned, mostly in the continent’s southeast. That includes areas of land known as catchments—also called watersheds—where rainfall begins its earthly journey into specific rivers, lakes, and dams

  Smoke taint fears are making winemakers nervous, but new detection tech is on the way [abc.net.au]

  About 180 people in the wine industry braved the thick smoke lingering in the region to attend a forum in Milawa, in north-east Victoria, to better understand smoke taint, which affects the quality of grapes and can even lead to entire vintages being lost.

  According to Wine Australia, major fire events since 2003 have affected over $400 million worth of grapes and wine that were either rejected commercially or downgraded because of smoke taint.

  Bushfires exacerbate drought shortfalls causing spike in demand for hay and fodder [abc.net.au]

  The fires across the new-year period triggered a flood of orders for livestock feed, in what has been likened to "Boxing Day sales".

  Farmers whose properties have been burned required urgent deliveries, while drought-stricken graziers further north feared they could also run out of feed because of increased demand.

  The drought caused the nation's sheep and cattle numbers to plummet, with graziers spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to hand feed livestock.

  Hay distributor Tim Ford, from Toowoomba in Queensland, said he'd never seen such a sudden spike in hay orders.

  "[It was] frantic, manic buying behaviour," he said of the period immediately after the new year fires.

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  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  Parent

• Re:If it's not burning it's flooding (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:20AM

  by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:20AM (#944930)

  Tell me again why half of India wants to move there?

  Bad karma, I guess.

  Parent