PERTH, Australia — Thousands of tourists fled Australia's wildfire-ravaged eastern coast Thursday, January 2, ahead of worsening conditions as the military started to evacuate people trapped on the shore further south.
Cooler weather since Tuesday, December 31, 2019 has aided firefighting and allowed people to replenish supplies. Vehicles formed long lines at gas stations and supermarkets, and traffic was gridlocked as highways reopened. But fire conditions were expected to deteriorate Saturday as high temperatures and strong winds are forecast to return.
"There is every potential that the conditions on Saturday, December 28, will be as bad or worse than we saw" on Tuesday, New South Wales Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said.
Authorities said 381 homes had been destroyed on the New South Wales southern coast this week and at least eight people have died this week in the state and neighboring Victoria, Australia's two most-populous states, where more than 200 fires are currently burning.
Fires have also been burning in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
The early and devastating start to Australia's summer wildfires has led authorities to rate this season the worst on record. About 5 million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land have burned, at least 17 people have been killed and more than 1,400 homes have been destroyed.
Prime Minster Scott Morrison said the crisis was likely to last for months.
"It will continue to go on until we can get some decent rain that can deal with some of the fires that have been burning for many, many months," Morrison told reporters on January 2.
New South Wales authorities on Thursday morning ordered tourists to leave a 250-kilometer (155-mile) zone along the picturesque south coast. State Transport Minister Andrew Constance said it is the "largest mass relocation of people out of the region that we've ever seen."
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a seven-day state of emergency starting Friday, which grants the New South Wales Rural Fire Service commissioner more control and power.
It's the third state of emergency for New South Wales in the past two months, after previously not being implemented since 2013.
"We don't take these decisions lightly but we also want to make sure we're taking every single precaution to be prepared for what could be a horrible day on Saturday," Berejiklian said.