Accuweather – Tens of thousands of residents have been driven from their homes throughout the states of New South Wales and Victoria as Australia’s catastrophic bushfire season continues. Communities within New South Wales and Victoria were placed under a declared state of emergency on Thursday morning, allowing New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to forcibly open or close roads and mandate public evacuations. “We don’t take these decisions lightly,” Berejiklian said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Kangaroo Island was another place where the bushfire situation worsened on Friday. A fire, named the Ravine fire, was burning on the island’s west end for several days within containment lines. Changing winds from an incoming front caused the fire to jump the continent lines, uncontrollably expanding in all directions through the Flinders Chase National Parks and towards Southern Ocean Lodge, a luxury resort in the area. While fighting the blaze, the Country Fire Service (CFS) closed roadways and asked for those in the region to evacuate, including the town of Parndana. READ MORE
