The CFA has warned Victoria is in for a wild week of bushfires and then potential floods as weather conditions in the state go from one extreme to another. Firefighters fought several out-of-control blazes in Gippsland yesterday including Briagolong, Rawson and Loch Sport with conditions expected to worsen again on Tuesday.
Category
đź“ş
TVTranscript
00:00 Conditions have improved a lot, which is very thankful.
00:04 The winds have dropped off.
00:05 We're going to have mild temperatures today, which is very helpful for the firefighters
00:10 to get these fires under control.
00:12 How long until that fire at Bryargalong is contained?
00:16 Look, the conditions, I believe tomorrow is still going to be quite windy in the morning.
00:21 So I wouldn't think the control would happen probably until tomorrow.
00:24 And hopefully we welcome the rain that is forecast to put the fires out.
00:29 Do you have enough resources in the region to fight these fires?
00:32 Oh look, the CFA have been fantastic.
00:36 Resources have come from all over Victoria.
00:38 It's not just a local effort, it's a combined effort.
00:41 And we thank all the volunteers for their great work.
00:44 Yesterday was a difficult day for your region.
00:47 One resident's home was lost.
00:49 Do you know how he's doing?
00:51 I'm not sure how he's going.
00:53 He has been contacted and our heart does go out to the community when there's anything
00:57 unfortunate that did happen there.
00:59 Can you tell us anything more about how his home came to be in the path of this fire?
01:04 No, no, I'm not updated on that side, Corrina.
01:08 But with the horrific, basically high winds that were there yesterday, it would have been
01:12 very hard for the firefighters to control.
01:15 And they've done a great job in getting under control now.
01:19 What about the campers who were evacuated yesterday?
01:22 How are they faring?
01:24 The campers were evacuated to Dargo, another small township in the Wellington Shire.
01:28 They are doing very well.
01:30 They stayed overnight and I believe they are all very safe.
01:34 And what's the advice to campers?
01:36 Are they being told not to head back out?
01:40 Definitely.
01:42 We have great fire plans in all of our townships.
01:45 We work very hard with our communities to make sure they are prepared.
01:49 And that has worked very well in these extreme circumstances.
01:53 You talked about the milder temperatures for today, although those winds will remain strong.
01:57 There's also rain forecast this week.
01:59 How welcome is that?
02:00 Look, it's great.
02:01 We're a big farming community.
02:03 It has been very dry September.
02:06 So we welcome additional rain to top up all our dams and get everything back green again.
02:10 Could you end up with getting too much rain and it could end up flooding?
02:14 Look, we potentially could, but we do have a lot of dams and catchment areas that are
02:19 quite reduced.
02:20 So I think that'll top all those up.
02:22 We might have some mild flooding, hopefully, but we've just got to wait and see what the
02:25 weather event does eventually.
02:27 And so do you have farmers in the region who are bracing for potentially flood conditions?
02:34 Look, not at this stage.
02:36 We'll wait to see what the experts give us with the warnings, because as you know, often
02:42 weather predictions don't come quite correct.
02:44 So we'll have to wait closer to the three day event to see how we travel.
02:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]