Australia is teetering on the edge of a humanitarian crisis as remote communities remain cut of from medical help, water sources become contaminated and food and fuel supplies run low.
A Navy ship that delivered emergency supplies to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake has left Sydney and is expected to reach the waters off Mallacoota on Thursday.
HMAS Choules will provide relief to 4,000 people who were stranded in the seaside town which has been destroyed by devastating bushfires.
On New Year’s Eve residents and tourists fled to Mallacoota’s beach, ready to throw themselves in the water at a moment’s notice to protect themselves from the flames.
There are concerns that the town’s water supply has now become contaminated by bushfires and residents have been told to boil water until it can be tested.
Water supplies in towns in both Victoria and New South Wales have been affected by the fires.
Ulladulla Woolworths opened its doors on Wednesday to give locals unable to leave the chance to stock up on supplies
This picture taken on December 31, 2019 shows a firefighter hosing down trees and flying embers in an effort to secure nearby houses from bushfires near the town of Nowra
On Tuesday boil notices were issued for Quaama, Cobargo, Bermagui, Beauty Point, Fairhaven, Wallaga Lake, Wallaga Lake Heights, Wallaga Lake Koori Village and Akolele after disinfection infrastructure was lost.
Power was restored to 11,000 homes in New South Wales’ South Coast on Wednesday but more than 30,000 people are still without power or internet.
People who had suffered horrific burns or were injured in the fires were forced to wait for more than 24 hours until they were rescued by the Navy as roads remain closed.
A 42-year-old man was rescued by a Navy helicopter from Cadgee, south of Moruya, and a 49-year-old woman and 23-year-old woman were rescued from Nowra.
Although some roads reopened on Wednesday, including the Princes Highway, the main road running through the fire affected region, some will remain closed for weeks.
NSW Premier Glayds Berejiklian said that trees had fallen on roads and had become welded to the bitumen making the task of clearing highways even more difficult.
There are concerns that food supplies will deplete quickly with no way to deliver more food.
On Wednesday more than 300 residents were seen queuing outside a Woolworths in Ulladulla, which has experienced power outages.
A firefighter hosing down trees and flying embers in an effort to secure nearby houses in Nowra on Tuesday
Pictured: Food truck in Narooma offering free food to locals who have been displaced or affected in the bushfire catastrophe
In the town of Tura Beach there were long queues of people waiting to fill up on petrol and to get supplies at the supermarket.
One woman called Kerry told the ABC: ‘A car queue of 50 waiting to get petrol and people in Woolworths clearing the shelves … apocalyptic.’
Local petrol stations have been forced to post signs letting residents know they’ve been run completely dry of petrol – while others simply don’t have any power to operate.
Conditions improved on Wednesday for firefighters but RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned of hellish weather this weekend.
‘We are getting indications with the forecast for Saturday that it is going to present a broader geographic area worse than what we saw yesterday in terms of fire danger,’ he said.
‘We all need to prepare ourselves for more challenging conditions.’
He said the fires would dominate a vast area from the south eastern corner of NSW up to Illawara and Shoalhaven. Tourists were warned to get out while they still could.
Eight people have died in bushfires since Monday, seven in New South Wales and one in Victoria.
Conditions are expected to get worse on Saturday with smoke filling the air. Pictured: Wattle Creek Fire on December 19
Pictured: People lining up to use a public telephone booth after telephone reception was cut across the south coast of NSW
NSW Police confirmed a total of seven people have been killed and two are unaccounted for in the South Coast bushfires since Monday.
The deaths include dairy farmer Patrick Salway, 29, and his father Robert, 63, who died trying to save their property in Cobargo, near Bega.
Young father and volunteer firefighter Samuel McPaul, 28, was also among those confirmed dead after he was killed by a fire tornado.
A 70-year-old man was found dead outside a home at Yatte Yattah, west of Lake Conjola, on Tuesday night, while another man’s body was found in a burnt vehicle on a road off the Princes Highway at Yatte Yattah Wednesday morning.
The body of a man was found in a vehicle on Wandra Road at Sussex Inlet about 11.30am Wednesday but is yet to be formally identified, while a seventh body was found outside a home Coolagolite, about 10km east of Cobargo, on Wednesday.
Beloved great-grandfather Mick Roberts, 67, from Buchan, in East Gippsland, as found dead at his home on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, a 72-year-old man is unaccounted for at Belowra, 50km north-west of Cobargo.
An 81-year-old woman who was missing from Conjola Park was found alive on Wednesday.
Another satellite image shows the devastation of the fires devastating the coastal town of Batemans Bay early Wednesday morning as the blaze continues to spread
This bushfire season NSW has lost more than 1,000 homes have been razed and entire towns, including Mogo and Cobargo have been destroyed.
At least 110 fires are still burning across New South Wales, with seven burning at a watch and act warning level. More than 40 significant bushfires are still burning in Victoria.
Four remain missing after the inferno tore through East Gippsland this week.
The Australian Defence Force are helping to respond to fires raging in Victoria’s East Gippsland where four people are missing in blazes which have destroyed at least 43 homes.
In addition to the homes and lives lost, those who remain are faced with increasingly stretched resources.
Smoke and flames are seen rising from burning trees as bushfires hit the bushland surrounding the small town of Nowr
More than 30 fires are still burning in the state of Tasmania, with at least seven of those of significance.
One home has been destroyed during the blazes, which have decimated 8,000 hectares of land.
Two people died in South Australian fires in late December after an out-of-control fire tore through the Adelaide Hills.
Vehicles gutted by bushfires are seen in the town of Lake Conjola in New South Wales on January 1, 2020
Ron Selth, a 69-year-old engineer, died in the Cudlee Creek bushfire on December 19.
He was remembered by family and friends as a doting and generous man.
‘He will be remembered for his incredible – sometimes injury-causing – hugs and will be deeply missed by his family and his many friends,’ Mr Selth’s family said in a statement.
‘Some people give firm hugs – I don’t know what’s beyond firm, but that’s what Dad occasionally delivered. When he gave a hug, he meant it.’
Business owner Sally Anne Wilson (left) stands in front of her destroyed shop with her partner Christopher Lee in Cobargo, NSW, Wednesday, January 1, 2020
The grandfather’s body was found on his Charleston property after the bushfires swept through.
Another fatality was reported at Lameroo when a car hit a tree, sparking a grass fire.
About 20 fires are still burning across the state. Again, seven are currently of significance.
At least 90 homes have been destroyed by the inferno in the state so far this season.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall said there were ‘scenes of absolute devastation’ as residents returned to their homes that had been reduced to rubble.
Emergency crews also suffered injuries with 23 firefighters injured, one seriously, and two police officers needing treatment.
On the west coast of Australia, another 40 bushfires are still burning.
The fire has only destroyed one home, despite burning through more than 1.2million hectares of land.