British expats in Australia are sharing their experiences about being caught up in devastating bushfires on New Years Eve.
Dr Billy Tusker Haworth from Manchester has told how he has been caught up in fires in Bega, a town in the south-east of New South Wales, and is spending his New Year’s Eve listening to the news for updates.
Bega Valley on the NSW south-eastern coastline has been ripped apart by bushfire, and claimed the lives of father and son Robert Salway, 63, and Patrick Salway, 29, in Cobargo. Their bodies were found on Tuesday morning.
It comes amid the latest in a series of heatwaves and high winds that have wrought new devastation in a country that has been battling unprecedented bushfires for months.
Dr Haworth, a geographer who works as a lecturer in geographic information systems (GIS), has been sharing haunting pictures of his home which is encapsulated in smoke
One picture shows Haworth wearing a face mask, alongside the words: ‘Don’t forget to keep your animals safe!’
Dr Billy Tusker Haworth (pictured) is orignially from Manchester and completing doctoral research into natural disaster management at the University of Sydney
Dr Haworth is currently completing doctoral research into natural disaster management at the University of Sydney and is specialising in participatory mapping in community bushfire risk reduction.
He has described feeling as though he is in ‘limbo land’ in the midst of the fire.
‘It makes me really very sad,’ he said.
‘Sitting in a bushfire area near Bega right now I just feel like I’m in some limbo land.
‘The word “crisis” really feels apt, and I feel so much more lost knowing the people with power to do anything in this country are so absent (in many ways).’
Dr Haworth, a geographer who works as a lecturer in geographic information systems (GIS), has been sharing haunting pictures of his home which is encapsulated in smoke.
One picture shows Haworth wearing a face mask, alongside the words: ‘Don’t forget to keep your animals safe!’
He described his plans for New Year’s Eve as sitting ‘on the couch listening to radio updates.’
Apocalyptic scenes show his home shrouded in an orangey-red haze beneath a blood-red sky.
Dr Haworth described his plans for New Year’s Eve as sitting ‘on the couch listening to radio updates’
Another British expat from Scotland living in Shoalhaven, in the south-eastern coastal region of New South Wales, shared ominous photos of huge plumes of smoke hanging over homes.
He tweeted: ‘A few progress photos taken from home, of fires local to us today.
‘Southerly change brought the worst, along with small ember attack. Luckily wasnt as bad as last Saturday.
‘There are other fires close by in town. Homes have been lost.’
Australia’s unprecedented bushfires have been burning for months, but the latest in a series of heatwaves and high winds have wrought new devastation.
Smoke from nearby fires have shrouded the sun in some areas and reduced visibility to just a few yards, even in the middle of the day.
Another British expat from Scotland living in Shoalhaven, in the south-eastern coastal region of New South Wales, shared ominous photos of huge plumes of smoke hanging over homes
He tweeted: ‘A few progress photos taken from home, of fires local to us today’
A plume of ominous smoke hangs over homes in Shoalhaven, in the south-eastern coastal region of New South Wales
Homes shrouded in a dark haze in Shoalhaven in images taken by a Scotsman living in the area on New Year’s Eve
As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 100 fires burning across NSW with 60 uncontained and eight at the emergency alert level.
In Victoria, there were four people unaccounted for in the east Gippsland region to the east of Melbourne but there was good news in the afternoon as the Country Fire Authority said a wind change passed through and pushed the fire front away from the threatened town of Mallacoota.
Authorities believe more than 4,000 people are still stuck at Mallacoota, in Victoria’s East Gippsland region, which was hit by fire about 8.30am on Tuesday. Four people are missing in blazes that have destroyed at least 43 homes.
In some places the blazes were so intense, the smoke so thick and fire-provoked dry lightning storms so severe that aerial reconnaissance and waterbombing had to be halted, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said.
Temperatures in bushfire areas can hit hundreds of degrees Celsius (Fahrenheit) killing anyone nearby long before the flames reach them.
Fleeing into the ocean is a ‘last resort option’ according to Victoria’s emergency management agency.
The crisis has focused attention on climate change – which scientists say is creating a longer and more intense bushfire season – and sparked street protests calling for immediate action to tackle global warming.
Are you a Briton affected by the bushfires in Australia? Email sophie.tanno@mailonline.co.uk