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End-of-days’ feeling （末日世界，全澳山火） The smoke has funnelled into Sydney from large bushfires in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury area north and west of the city. Those fires represent only a fraction of the hundreds that have turned the spring of 2019 into one of the most devastating bushfire seasons eastern Australia has known in terms of the area of land burnt. By the end of November, 1.9m hectares had been burnt in NSW alone, including 800,000 hectares in national parks – 10% of the state’s total national park area. Twenty per cent of the Blue Mountains world heritage area has been affected by fire. Queensland has also suffered badly, with 38 homes destroyed in this bushfire season. Almost 200,000 hectares have been burnt in the state since the start of September, and more than 2m hectares in NSW – a combined area larger than actual Wales. South Australia and Western Australia have also experienced dangerous fires, and many are still burning on the east coast. Between 1 July and 29 November, there have been 7,530 individual fires in NSW. Six people have died in NSW and more than 600 homes destroyed – 4,700 homes have been saved by firefighters. There is no sign the conditions will let up over the summer months. The Bureau of Meterology has said the hot and dry conditions will continue, leading to more severe fire danger warnings over Christmas and into 2020. The fire season in Victoria typically comes later, and fire chiefs fear resources will be stretched beyond endurance if the southern state experiences a bad season while fires are still raging further north. Australia’s worst recent bushfire catastrophe came in February 2009, when 180 people died as conflagrations raced through small towns north of Melbourne. The extent of the fires and the smoke that has drifted across Sydney and many other affected areas – combined with the seemingly endless drought in many areas of the country – have led to widespread fears that Australia is heading towards an ominous, apocalyptic time. The actor Sam Neill tweeted that there was a sense of “the end of days” about the country seen from the air, as his plane approached on Tuesday.
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发表于 2019-12-5 20:48:25
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