translated from Spanish: Tourists are asked to leave south-east Australia over voracious fires affecting the country

Local authorities on Thursday (local time) have urged tourists and all non-residents to leave the fire zones in south-eastern Australia in anticipation of an extreme heat wave and an increase in the risk of a or over the weekend. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service has declared a “tourist-free area,” which runs 240 kilometres south of the tourist town of Batemans Bay to the border with Victoria.Su deputy commissioner, Rob Rogers, has explained to the press on Thursday tomorrow that the risk of fire is far from over and that conditions are expected to worsen on Sunday, when another heat wave arrives with temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius. Long rows of vehicles have collapsed roads to the north and west from the evacuation zone on Thursday. Many others are unable to leave as gas stations are out of fuel or pumps are not working because of blackouts. There is also a lack of food and water in many of the coastal communities that have been isolated from the highway since the fires began on Monday and Tuesday, the Rural Fire Service has reported.Many roads are still closed by the flames fallen trees that lash out efforts to get food, water and fuel to these areas. The Department of Defense has reported that a Navy ship is scheduled to arrive on Thursday in Victoria’s seaside resort of Mallacoota, with supplies for some 4,000 people caught up in the fires since Monday. The ship could evacuate up to a thousand people. The Meteorological Bureau has reported that a heat wave with strong winds will hit South Australia on Thursday before reaching the southeast of the country on Saturday.

Original source in Spanish