During a heat wave, Australia continues its fight against the feu

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia is experiencing the most severe heat wave since the fires of 2009, which had 173 dead and authorities are struggling against countless forest fires fanned by strong winds .

The summer heat wave first hit the state of Western Australia on December 27 and lasted eight days, before expanding to the east, particularly in New South Wales, the most populous state, where more than 130 fires were recorded, and around the capital, Canberra.

The heatwave currently affects five of the six states in the country. Temperatures above 45 ° C were recorded in the south-east of the country, and hundreds of people were forced to leave their domicile.

Thousands of firefighters continued to battle Tuesday against forty fires and forest, aided by sixty water bombers .

officials fire service said five areas of New South Wales in a state of disaster, which means that in case of fire, the fire could not possibly be mastered. They advised people to evacuate lieux.

a hundred houses, mostly on the island of Tasmania, were destroyed by fire in recent days and many people are missing in areas sinistrées.

Firefighters hope a refresh happens Tuesday night on the east coast, where temperatures around 20 ° were recorded, they will extinguish flammes.

"HEAT DOME"

According to the Commissioner

Fire Department of New South Wales, Shane Fitzsimmons, many fires have yet to be localized and the rest should last only a few days before the return of a sweltering heat from inside the pays.< / p>

Meteorologists explained that the winds have created a "heat dome" that covers the majority of Australia .

In Sydney, where the temperature was nearly 42 °, thousands of citizens flocked to the beaches to find some fraîcheur.

The scorching heat has caused a fire in a center for nuclear research located in the south of Sydney after the overheating of electrical wiring transformer voisin.

Thousands of homes were without power in the north of the city due to the surge in demande.

A Broken Hill, a town in the interior, the mercury topped 45 degrees Celsius, and the biggest highway of the country, linking Sydney to Melbourne, was cut off by fires that surrounded the inhabitants of the common Tarcutta.

"The heat was such that the tar road melted and stuck to my shoes," said Malcolm Brown, retired journalist who lives in the center of New South Wales Sud.

Clémence

Apetogbor for the French service, edited by Gilles Trequesser