Thousands evacuate New South Wales south coast ahead of bushfire threat

Record ID: 1451125

  • Title: Thousands evacuate New South Wales south coast ahead of bushfire threat
  • Date: 2nd January 2020
  • Summary: BATEMANS BAY, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 2, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CLYDE RIVER AT BATEMANS BAY ENTRANCE POLICE DIRECTING TRAFFIC VARIOUS OF LONG QUEUE OF TRAFFIC LEAVING TOWN (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, SANDY KEMP, SAYING: "I was right up until about half an hour ago. Just everything that's going on at the moment." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, RACHELLE NIKITARAS, SAYING: "Mum wants to stay but, I don't know." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, SANDY KEMP SAYING: "It's just a scary feeling, I think. Just everything that was going on. There was not fuel. We've got no power. No phone service out where we are. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, RACHELLE NIKITARAS, SAYING: "Just not knowing what's going on, or what we're expecting. Just, we're getting mixed everything." (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, SANDY KEMP SAYING: "Mixed information from different people. To stay, go. Just a bit hard at the moment." POLICE OFFICER WALKING NEXT TO TRAFFIC (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, SHANE FLANAGAN, SAYING: "Seeing all the locals, and I can see they're all nervous and anxious. Everyone's just on edge." PEOPLE PUSHING SHOPPING CARTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOURIST, MARINA TING, SAYING: "Looking at the queues here it will be a long, long trip. We actually think we'd be better off here. Our motorhome's parked by the water, if anything does happen, we can just go down to the water. We were here on New Year’s Eve, that was really, really bad. We were in the van, the wind direction changed, the next minute it was completely dark." PEOPLE PUSHING SHOPPING CARTS VARIOUS OF POLICE AND TRAFFIC PEOPLE GETTING FUEL (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, GARY KEYS, SAYING: "The fire's close to my house. If the wind changes it could impact quite heavily on my house and my neighbours and my family’s house. We've got family members further up the road from us, so, it's basically survival." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE AT FUEL PUMPS
  • Embargoed: 16th January 2020 03:08
  • Keywords: Batemans Bay New South Wales bushfire fire
  • Location: BATEMANS BAY, AUSTRALIA
  • City: BATEMANS BAY, AUSTRALIA
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Fires
  • Reuters ID: LVA001BUHAFYF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Residents and tourists along the New South Wales south coast started evacuations on Thursday (January 2) with authorities declaring a "tourist leave zone" for hundreds of kilometres of the coast.
    Long queues formed outside supermarkets and petrol stations near high-danger areas as both residents and tourists sought supplies to either bunker down or escape, but many shops and fuel stations had already run out of supplies.
    Major roads were closed due to fire risks, leaving motorists only a handful of escape routes causing lengthy traffic jams.
    Authorities have urged a mass exodus from several towns on Australia's southeast coast, an area that is hugely popular in the current summer peak holiday season, warning that extreme heat forecast for the weekend will further stoke raging fires.
    (Production: Jill Gralow / Stefica Nicol Bikes)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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