A week-long state of emergency has been declared across NSW as the state prepares to endure some of the worst bushfire conditions yet, with temperatures expected to hit 46C by Saturday.
Thousands of people will be subject to forced evacuations as officials scramble to move holidaymakers and locals alike from dangerous areas.
Catastrophic conditions which fanned blazes on the New South Wales south coast and in eastern Victoria on Wednesday will return within 48 hours, giving fire services little time to prepare.
Key roads are likely to be closed with little notice across the state thanks to the ‘volatile’ conditions, which will worsen on Saturday thanks to blistering temperatures and high winds.
Hundreds of fires are still burning out of control across the country, destroying millions of hectares, killing 18 and leaving 1,200 homes destroyed, with catastrophic 46C weather forecast for Saturday (pictured)
The first recovery boat is pictured in Victoria’s Mallacoota, near the NSW border, on Thursday morning, as officials prepare to evacuate thousands of people from the fire-ravaged up to Batemans Bay
A kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Conjola (pictured) on New Year’s Eve, as officials prepare for a ‘horrible day’ on Saturday, with blistering temperatures and high winds likely to make conditions far worse
Addressing reporters on Thursday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said they were preparing for a ‘horrible day on Saturday’.
‘Given the worsening conditions we know are ahead of us on Saturday and what our state has been through in the last few days, especially New Year’s Eve, we will be declaring a state of emergency from 9am tomorrow that will last seven days,’ she said.
‘This is to make sure all of our agencies and organisations know that from tomorrow they will be subject to forced evacuations, road closures, road openings and anything else we need to do as a state to keep residents safe and keep property safe.’
She added that she hopes the state of emergency will help to move the thousands of tourists still in vulnerable areas to escape before Saturday.
‘We do not take these decisions lightly, but we also want to make sure we take every single precaution to prepare for what could be a horrible day on Saturday,’ Ms Berejiklian added.
‘We know that temperatures will be int the mid 40s in parts of the state and we know there are more fires burning today than we’d like in these milder conditions.’
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian (pictured) told reporters on Thursday that the government doesn’t take such decisions ‘lightly’ but was putting a place a week-long state of emergency
Tourists and residents have been told to evacuate a 250km stretch of the New South Wales south coast (pictured) as devastating bushfires threaten the area
In one of the biggest peacetime evacuations in Australian history, the NSW Rural Fire Service has told people to flee the 250km stretch from Bateman’s Bay down to the state border – as a navy landing ship prepares to evacuate people trapped in Mallacoota in eastern Victoria as roads are closed off.
‘If you are planning on visiting the South Coast this weekend, it is not safe. Do not be in the area on Saturday,’ the service said.
NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance called it the ‘largest evacuation of people out of the region ever’ as a queue of cars clogged the highway toward Sydney while thousands fled.
Locals and holidaymakers who decided to stay queued for hours for supplies as panic-buying emptied shelves at supermarkets which were powered by generators as electricity was turned off.
Residents met in the Mallacoota town hall on Thursday afternoon (pictured) for an evacuation briefing by defence force officials, after the town was surrounded by flames
Left: Commanding Officer of HMAS Choules CMDR Scott Houlihan leading a liaison team to meet with community leaders in Mallacoota, Victoria. Right: HMAS Choules travels through smokey haze off the coast of Mallacoota, Victoria on Thursday
HMAS Choules’ enhanced medical team (pictured) disembarks a MRH-90 Taipan maritime support helicopter as the ship prepares to provide support to the communities affected by bushfires
Holidaymakers attempting to flee Batemans Bay before temperatures reach 46C on Saturday were trapped on the roads with long rows of cars seen piled up on Thursday (pictured)
HMAS Choules (pictured leaving Sydney Harbour on Wednesday) will provide relief to 4,000 people who remain stranded in Mallacoota, Victoria
At 10am on Thursday the HMAS Choules and the MV Sycamore, a defence contracted training vessel, arrived off the coast of Mallacoota where 4,000 people are stranded – as troops in helicopters delivered food, water and medicine to isolated towns.
RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers told the ABC officials are desperate to get tourists out before Saturday as strong winds, scorching temperatures and low humidity was forecast.
‘We have so many fires still burning down there … and quite close to communities as well,’ he said.
‘We won’t get containment on those fires before Saturday.’
Major highways leading out of the leave zone, including the Princes Highway between Milton and Nowra, were reopened on Thursday. Falls Creek at Jervis Bay Road and Corks Lane at Milton has also reopened but with reduced speed.
However, many people have struggled to flee as many petrol stations have either run out of fuel or are without power. Queues of cars have been seen at the remaining petrol stations around Batemans Bay that still have stock.
Tankers of 60,000 litres of fuel were brought in overnight to help with the disaster.
An evacuation zone stretching more than 250 kilometers along the New South Wales south coast has been set up as scorching temperatures and more devastating bushfires threaten the area
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said in press conference on Thursday afternoon that 17 people are missing feared dead and one is confirmed dead after fires in Gippsland on Wednesday.
Talking about the evacuation effort, he said the HMAS Choules was able to carry roughly 700 passengers at a time.
‘We think around 3,000 tourists and 1,000 locals are there. Not all of those will want to leave, not all can get on the vessel at one time,’ he said.
‘Then there’s a whole lot of planning going on about where that vessel will go, it will be a long trip, potentially a 10 or 12 hour trip to take them to another port and then to provide them with all the support they will need.’
Hundreds of fires are burning out of control across the country in a horrific season which has killed 18 people, razed 1,298 homes and destroyed millions of hectares of land.
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 the NSW south coast
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
On Wednesday more than 300 residents were seen queuing outside a Woolworths in Ulladulla, NSW, which has experienced power outages
This satellite image shows the devastation of the fires devastating the coastal town of Batemans Bay, on the NSW south coast, early Wednesday morning as the blaze continues to spread
Water supplies in towns in both Victoria and New South Wales have been affected by the fires.
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 electricity 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.
Since Monday, eight have been killed and four are missing feared dead in the fires in NSW and Victoria.
On Wednesday 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.
Traffic has been barely moving as hundreds flee Batemans Bay in New South Wales before temperatures skyrocket on Saturday
On Wednesday more than 300 residents were seen queuing outside a Woolworths in Ulladulla, which has experienced power outages.
Store manager Craig Scott said the supermarket was running on a recently purchased generator – but it was close to running out of fuel.
He was hoping local boat owners would share their diesel to ensure essential food and milk wouldn’t spoil.
‘The power’s out in town, but we decided to open the store just for necessities, so people can get nappies, baby food, all that sort of stuff,’ he said.
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.’
Ulladulla Woolworths opened its doors on Wednesday to give locals unable to leave the chance to stock up on supplies
A firefighter hosing down trees and flying embers in an effort to secure nearby houses in Nowra, NSW, on Tuesday
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys asked for patience as police and utility providers tried their best to get power and telecom services restored down the south coast.
‘We have to make sure that when we restart the power, we do that with safety and confidence, that it will remain on. People need to understand this is not a simple or easy task.’
Mr Fitzsimmons said the fires would dominate a vast area from the south eastern corner of NSW up to Illawarra 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.
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.
Destroyed buildings are seen in Cobargo, NSW, Wednesday, January 1, 202. Several bushfire-ravaged communities in NSW have greeted the new year under immediate threat
Pictured: Food truck in Narooma offering free food to locals who have been displaced or affected in the bushfire catastrophe
Frightening satellite images from January 1 showed the horrifying extent of the bushfires on the NSW South Coast
Smoke and flames are seen rising from burning trees as bushfires hit the bushland surrounding the small town of Nowr