Sydney, Australia, Sep 19 (EFE).- Extreme heat in southeastern Australia forced the Tuesday closure of more than 20 schools, as regional authorities issued a total ban on lighting open-air fires for fear of a repeat of the catastrophic blazes of 2019-2020.
This heat wave, which began last weekend and is expected to last until Wednesday, will cause temperatures to soar from Tuesday in Sydney and other locations in the state of New South Wales, up to 35C.
Current heat conditions, which are 18C higher than the country’s average September temperatures, have already caused more than 60 forest fires in this area, of which 13 are burning out of control.
One of the most vulnerable areas is the Far South Coast, which covers an area of 14,230sqkms, equivalent to almost half of Belgium.
The New South Wales ministry education ordered some 3,000 schoolchildren to stay at home following the Tuesday school closures due to the risk of fires.
New South Wales faces “the worst danger” of catastrophe since the “Black Summer fires” of 2019-2020, which killed 33 people, burned some 24 million hectares in eastern Australia and affected some 3 billion animals, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Bob Rogers told Australian public broadcaster ABC.
Authorities said the heat wave would move in the coming days to the neighboring region of Queensland – where two forest fires are currently recorded – the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Experts also said Australia could face rising temperatures and unusually dry weather this year due to El Nino, a natural weather phenomenon caused by currents in the Pacific Ocean that, exacerbated by the climate crisis, could lead to devastating fires. EFE
wat/lds
