Australian Heat Wave Continues

CHAN:
A heat wave scorched southern Australia on Wednesday. Its led to intense bushfires, buckling rail lines and even forced the Australian Open tennis to stop matches under an extreme heat policy when temperatures hit 43 degrees Celsius.

STORY:
As high temperatures hit the southeastern state of Victoria, firefighters battled to contain a blaze on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. The grass fires threatened homes and closed a freeway in the area. Residents panicked as fire crews informed them of the fire situation.

[Melbourne Resident]: (do not title bar)
"My grandparents' house is where the fire is."

As Melbourne sweltered, people headed to the beach in large numbers. Many took advantage of the heat to entice customers into their stores by handing out free ice cream, while the local zoo gave some of their animals, including the gorillas, frozen food.

Ambulance crews were busy during the day handling a few heat stress cases.

The extreme heat policy was called for at the Australian Open tennis. Some outdoor matches were suspended and the roof of the main stadium closed to allow play to continue.

If the heat continues temperatures could hit higher than the hottest week recorded 100 years ago.

Strong hot, dry winds are expected to hit Victoria and the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting high temperatures for the rest of the week.

Australia is in the grip of drought and total fire bans were declared in southern Australia in the hope of preventing bushfires.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• australia
• australian open tennis
• sport
• heat wave
• melbourne

[Spyplane2005]

It definitely got to a minimum of 46 C in Central Western NSW

[razehey]

Last year my room reached 48c

The highest in melbourne was about 49c if i remember.

A yr or 2 yrs ago

[MrRomantic1990]

dahmmmmm its same like indian weather but i live in us its fucking perfect weather i love it

[fkngtwat]

im pretty sure it got to 47 in adelaide

[333dagger]

oh yeah, i case u didn't realise.... i was being sarcastic to the previous idiot that i commented on.

[Juramundie]

SUCK IT UP??? Nearly 200 people are dead!!! families burnt to death in their cars as they try to escape, other families died in there homes because there WAS NO escape. towns have been completely destroyed as well as 800 HOMES

[2hellndbak]

yeah, i live in melbourne aswell..

46 degrees?

thats hott.

[OliverEnigmatic]

I live in melbourne and the hottest this year was

46.4 Degrees It Was soo Hott

[gnarkillkicksass]

I love foreign idiots who really have no idea. Your saying bushfires, floods, earthquakes, cyclones, sandstorms, heatwaves, snow storms etc all started because of the white man?

[gsp160]

climate changing and global warming really are two differnent subjects.climate change is as simple as winter to summer like season change.global warming is a political spin its not that serious as one might think.the industrial boom happened back in 1910 sure has some effect maybe 25 percent even over 100 years nothing to worry about and can be fixed.hottest day in australia recorded was 70 years ago i think