国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Death toll in Australian wildfires rises past 170
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-10 08:57

WHITTLESEA, Australia -- Disaster teams found charred bodies on roadsides and in crashed cars - grim signs of the futile attempt to flee raging wildfires fed by 60 mph winds, record heat and drought that caught even fire-savvy Australians by surprise.

Police inspect a farm house destroyed by wildfires in Whittlesea, Australia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009. [Agencies]

Related readings:
 128 dead as wildfire continues to ravage Victoria
 Thousands of phone lines damaged by bushfires in Australia
 Bushfires kill 93 in Australia
 Homes destroyed as Australia struggles to rein in fires

As the death toll rose Tuesday to 173 in Australia's worst wildfire disaster, suspicions that some of the 400 blazes were caused by arson led police to declare crime scenes in some of the incinerated towns, Victoria police said.

The fires near Melbourne in southeastern Australia destroyed more than 750 homes, left 5,000 people homeless, and burned 1,100 square miles of land, the Victoria Country Fire Service said.

Whole forests were reduced to leafless, charred trunks. Farmland was in ashes.

The scale of the disaster shocked a nation that endures deadly firestorms every few years. Officials said panic and the freight-train speed of the walls of flames probably accounted for the unusually high death toll.

"It was very quick and ferocious and took everyone by surprise," said Jack Barber, who with his wife, a neighbor, six cats and a dog sought refuge with five other people on a cricket field surrounded by trees in Kinglake.

"All around us was 100-foot flames ringing the oval, and we ran where the wind wasn't. It was swirling all over the place," he said. "For three hours, we dodged the wind."

Firefighters battled more than a dozen blazes that burned out of control across Victoria state, although conditions were much cooler than Saturday. Forecasters said temperatures would rise later this week, posing a risk of flare-ups.

Blazes have been burning for weeks across several states in southern Australia, common for time of year. But the worst drought in a century in the south had left forests extra dry, and Saturday's temperature was 117 degrees, the relative humidity was 7 percent, and the wind was gusting to 50 mph.

"I cannot fathom in my mind anything more hellish, firewise," said Jim Andrews, senior meteorologist at accuweather.com. He added that Australia's vegetation, such as eucalyptus and gum trees, contain flammable aromatic oils.

Flags across Australia flew at half-staff and Parliament suspended its normal sessions to hear emotional condolence speeches by legislators.

   Previous page 1 2 Next Page  

阿城市| 犍为县| 阿拉善左旗| 旬阳县| 延川县| 九龙坡区| 广州市| 宜春市| 嘉善县| 博野县| 洛南县| 恩平市| 泰兴市| 江华| 榕江县| 铜鼓县| 特克斯县| 林芝县| 西峡县| 宣化县| 江安县| 临海市| 阿合奇县| 靖西县| 秦皇岛市| 吴川市| 耿马| 仙桃市| 阿克苏市| 东明县| 大荔县| 开化县| 临武县| 房产| 东阳市| 泸定县| 司法| 安阳县| 西安市| 卢湾区| 莱州市|