A “catastrophic” bushfire has burnt through an historic town in Western Australia, destroying 95 homes and leaving three people unaccounted for, officials said yesterday.
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Four people were killed in a series of bushfires sparked by lightning in Western Australia in November, two people were killed in fires in South Australia state, and more than 100 homes were destroyed in fires on Christmas Day in Victoria state.
Aerial pictures from Australian broadcaster Channel 7 on Friday showed the extent of the damage, with many buildings reduced to rubble.
“It’s just the fact that we are not able to account for them”.
Waroona residents are being allowed to return to their homes.
Yesterday, 60 firefighters and five ambulance officers from NSW flew into Western Australia yesterday to provide support with two additional choppers from NSW heading to the bushfire scene today.
Suncorp Group, which owns brands such as AAMI and GIO, said insurers were continuing to call for improved natural catastrophe mitigation strategies including better town planning to lessen the future impact of bush fires.
About 835 people have registered at two evacuation centres. “I think the water comes from Harvey”.
People are often reported unaccounted for while evacuating from fire zones but usually turn up later unharmed. Once power was lost, water was unable to be transferred from the water treatment plant to the town’s tank, which impacted on Yarloop’s water supply.
Many Harvey residents had made a decision to leave early on Friday, advised by text message that seeking shelter elsewhere was the safest option.
Ironically, some people from fire-threatened Waroona had been seeking refuge in Yarloop on Thursday – before winds changed and put the former mill town in the path of the firestorm.
“And you’ve got a guy like Squizzy sitting at his kitchen table listening to the wireless, and they’re saying Harvey and Waroona and Hamel (all nearby towns) but not Yarloop”.
Yarloop, on Western Australia’s coast – population 545 and 160 miles south of the city of Perth – was evacuated and devastated by the brushfire.
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“There’s unconfirmed reports that we’ve lost the pub and a number of other significant buildings”.
