especially those in NSW - any of you affected by the bushfires? More than 90 fires burning around NSW. 100s of homes may have been lost. Its only October - isn't it far too early in the season for fires to be this bad?
I live in Penrith Western Sydney. There are a few fires close to me, but none threatening directly. Apparently 80 homes or more have been destroyed up around Springwood.
They're just up the road from me, say 20-30 kms. My train was an hour late getting home. Smoke all over the place, but nothing close really. "The sky was like a huge purple bruise." I've never understood that expression until today. That was exactly what it was like. It's cooled off a lot and the wind's dropped. Let's hope it stays that way.
There has been one confirmed fatality, a 63 year old man. It looks like he collapsed while protecting his home. The fire service is going through burnt out homes, hopefully they won't find any bodies. One fireflighter has serious burns. No evidence that any of the fires were deliberately lit. High fire danger expected to return on Sunday. Video of the fires including, towards the end, of the amlunt of smoke over Sydney. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ax2pKF5iug[/yt] Does anyone know if an appeal has been set up yet?
The sky was all purple as I left Sydney yesterday. I wasn't effected. I know Newcastle Airport had to be closed, I saw people on the train had to rush to Sydney to change flights. Seen many updates about it. I should taken a shot of the sky. Very surreal.
Is there any explanation as to why the sky is purple? Whenever I have seen skies during bushfires the skies have been red or orange.
Not sure about the colour, just the mix of smoke and filtered sunlight, I guess. The confirmed death is just north of where I live, though where I am is pretty safe. Much cooler here today, which will help.
The death was at Lake Munmorah, a few suburbs over. Poor chap had just had a big operation of some kind, and apparently had a heart attack. His neighbours loved him. His dog was wandering round looking lost, just so sad. Some friends of my son lost a house they were renting at Catherine Hill Bay. My friend the volunteer fireman said his house in the Blue Mountains has escaped.
Australis, I'm happy that your friend's house wasn't damaged...don't worry about that...but I cannot stop laughing at this phrase: "his house in the Blue Mountains has escaped". I get this mental image of the house sprouting legs and running away.
On the other side of the ditch we're getting a couple of nice sunsets at the moment. Not that it comes from something nice.
To all my fellow Aussies, a reminder. If you are buying food to donate to those who are homeless because of this, remember pet food too!
... and is at large! That said, he previously lived in one of the suburbs that has lost a lot of houses, I haven't had a chance to ask if his old house is okay.
I'm still in Brisbane, so I'm not affected. Going to be an interesting few weeks at work though. I work for an insurance company, and we have a huge share of the home market in nsw. From an insurance perspective, this is not good. Not for the obvious reason of having to pay out to individuals. That's fine. It's about re-insurance. This is big enough that both Suncorp and IAG are most likely going to have to claim themselves. Even if the big 2 don't end up claiming, it's going to hurt re-insurance. Australia really needs a few good years of no major natural disasters to counter-balance what happened 2010 and 2011. If this is typical of the type of summer we're going to have this year... everyone, expect your premiums to go up because you can bet your bottom dollar, re-insurance is going to sky rocket again. I know some people will think it a bit heartless to consider what impact this is going to have on insurance, both individually and from a corporate perspective, but I can't help it. It is just the way my mind works these days.
It will be interesting to see what Newcastle Airport looks like as I fly home today. Got a few friends that have been affected in either southern Newcastle or in the Blue Mountains. I wish I could bring this cloudy weather up from Melbourne with me.