How Big is Australia Compared to Texas?

[davenn]

With now over 800 homes destroyed, 300+ damaged and countless numbers of wildlife lost.

Welcome to Christmas 2019 in Australia

from my Facebook

 

[fresh_42]

Yes, this is very sad. And the projections for the coming decades ain't better. I just read that farmers from WA sent trucks with hay for the farmers in NSW these days.

Strangely enough it's often around christmas when big tragedies happen like in 2004 or last year's Anak Krakatau.

 

[256bits]

69 ( I think the is the number ) Canadians are forgoing their Xmas and heading to Australia to lend a helping hand. I imagine that this will be their best Xmas ever for them knowing they tried, or will try their utmost, aiding those in difficulty.

 

[dlgoff]

Stay safe @davenn

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Very unfortunate. Seems Nature is speeding up her own destruction.

https://twitter.com/i/events/1209604459170430976?s=13

 

[pinball1970]

With now over 800 homes destroyed, 300+ damaged and countless numbers of wildlife lost.

Welcome to Christmas 2019 in Australia

from my Facebook

Awful.
Will the government be stepping in with re housing? Financial aid? Presumably this is considered an 'act of god' so insurance may not cover this?
We are lucky in the UK wrt to fire, it is flooding that is a constant threat over here.

 

[davenn]

Will the government be stepping in with re housing? Financial aid?

There hasn't been anything specifically stated by the Govt that I have heard about on the media as of yet

Presumably this is considered an 'act of god' so insurance may not cover this?

I can't be sure, but I would suspect that ( knowing the history of these fires in Australia) bush fire risk
would possibly be included or at least insurees would have to state they wanted fire protection as well.

 

[member 656954]

Will the government be stepping in with re housing?

I heard from friends that in South Australia at least the State Government has activated their Emergency Relief Fund to coordinate donations from the public but housing is primarily shelters because it's happening right now. Support at the Federal level was already via income assistance from the Disaster Recovery Allowance (DRA), but that was for New South Wales and Queensland residents and I'm not sure if it has been extended to South Australia (or even Victoria, other friends said there have been fires there as well).

Presumably this is considered an 'act of god' so insurance may not cover this?

The 'act of god' exclusion is not common for this, and home and contents insurance usually covers bushfires, though definitions vary, as per the usual fine print.

And sadly and madly, 'scummers' are already targeting people impacted by the fires. Apparently, they phone victims claiming to be from banks looking to pass on disaster relief funds and ask for bank details. Despicable

 

[StatGuy2000]

I'm late in replying to this, but I am truly sorry for the people in Australia having to experience the devastation of the wildfires.

I do have a question for @davenn or any other PF members from Australia -- how widespread are the wildfires in the country as of this moment? Most of the news reports refer to the situation in New South Wales, but I'm curious to what extent the impact is being felt elsewhere in the country.

 

[davenn]

how widespread are the wildfires in the country as of this moment?

The worst ones are along the east coast, NSW and eastern Victoria ( the southeast of the country)
here's a current map for all of Australia as of 5 Jan 2020
https://myfirewatch.landgate.wa.gov.au/

I have added the latest one on Kangaroo Isl., offshore SW of the city of Adelaide
I hadn't been added to the map on the linked page
I live in Sydney, on the east coast, you can just see the ...ney sticking out

Dave

 

[davenn]

the amount of smoke from the fires is mind boggling. It has produced the worst air pollution in
New Zealand, 2000 km or so away, that they have ever seen

01 Jan 2020 smoke all way across to NZ

04 Jan 2020 smoke cloud

 

[fresh_42]

New Zealand, 2000 km or so away, that they have ever seen

... and some more glaciers will melt faster than thought!

 

[davenn]

... and some more glaciers will melt faster than thought!

quite possibly. NZ isn't getting these extreme temperature that we get in Australia.
But I did see one media photo last week of a mountain scene in NZ's Southern Alps where the snow and glacier ice had turned brown

 

[fresh_42]

quite possibly. NZ isn't getting these extreme temperature that we get in Australia.
But I did see one media photo last week of a mountain scene in NZ's Southern Alps where the snow and glacier ice had turned brown

Yes, the worsened albedo, not the temperature is the problem.

We have this here in the alps, when Sahara sands are blown across the sea. It actually breaks if your skiing on it. (applied physics)

 

[davenn]

from a local fellow storm friend Michael Thompson, aka ozthunder on youtube

a video with bursts of timelapse showing the massive pyrocumunlonimbus clouds

this generated a significant thunderstorm within it
a frame grab from the Weatherzone.com.au Sydney radar and lightning

all the white are lightning strikesDave

 

[phinds]

With now over 800 homes destroyed, 300+ damaged and countless numbers of wildlife lost.

Welcome to Christmas 2019 in Australia

 

[StatGuy2000]

The worst ones are along the east coast, NSW and eastern Victoria ( the southeast of the country)
here's a current map for all of Australia as of 5 Jan 2020
https://myfirewatch.landgate.wa.gov.au/

I have added the latest one on Kangaroo Isl., offshore SW of the city of Adelaide
I hadn't been added to the map on the linked page
I live in Sydney, on the east coast, you can just see the ...ney sticking out

Dave

Thanks for providing the update. I hope you and your family are safe where you are. I can only imagine, in addition to the fire threat, the threat of air pollution resulting from the wildfires (in another post you did state the problem of air pollution in New Zealand caused from the Australian wildfires).

I can also only imagine that, in addition to the real human and environmental costs of the wildfires (read on a BBC report that millions of animal life had perished during the wildfires) the economic costs that would impact Australia, in terms of destruction or damage to homes and infrastructure, lost tourism revenues, damage/loss of agricultural land, damage to businesses, etc.

 

[davenn]

A bit of size perspective for those outside of Australia …..

 

[phinds]

@davenn, people in Texas will say that you have grossly exaggerated the size of Australia and that it is actually smaller than Texas. Of course, they say that about EVERYTHING, so ...

 

[davenn]

@davenn, people in Texas will say that you have grossly exaggerated the size of Australia and that it is actually smaller than Texas. Of course, they say that about EVERYTHING, so …

hahaha, indeed

 

[jbriggs444]

@davenn, people in Texas will say that you have grossly exaggerated the size of Australia and that it is actually smaller than Texas. Of course, they say that about EVERYTHING, so ...

As one can plainly see from the graphic above, Australia only covers about 1/3 of Texas.