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Australia fires live: NSW state of emergency declared as 17 missing in Victoria bushfires – latest Australia fires: NSW state of emergency declared as 17 missing in Victoria bushfires – live
(30 minutes later)
At least nine people have died since Christmas Day, and the RFS is urging people to evacuate the New South Wales south coast before dangerous conditions on the weekend. Follow the live news and latest updates todayAt least nine people have died since Christmas Day, and the RFS is urging people to evacuate the New South Wales south coast before dangerous conditions on the weekend. Follow the live news and latest updates today
ACT chief minister Andrew Barr has cut his holiday short and is on his way back to the territory, given the warnings for Saturday. I am going to hand you over to Helen Davidson for the remainder of the evening.
He should be back tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be back with my colleagues tomorrow - take care of you.
It hasn’t got as much attention, but South Australia is also still suffering. FFS. NSW police media have just released this statement:
Many other roads remain closed including: A man will face court today charged after a fire was allegedly deliberately lit in Sydney’s east yesterday.About 3.30pm (Wednesday 1 January 2020), police were called to a small park in Cox Avenue, Bondi Beach, following reports of a small fire after a brown paper bag filled with dried leaves had allegedly been deliberately lit.
South of Nowra Officers from Eastern Suburbs Police Area Command attended and were approached by members of the public, who had extinguished the fire and followed a man leaving the scene.Police spoke with the 34-year-old man before searching him and seizing a cigarette lighter.
• Jerrawangala to Tomerong: Turpentine Road is closed He was taken to Waverley Police Station and charged with intentionally cause fire and be reckless to its spread.
• Wandandian: Wandean Road is closed between the Princes Highway and Bollerang Road The Bondi man was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court today
• Nowra Hill to Charleyong: Braidwood Road/Nerriga Road is closed Our neighbour, Indonesia, is experiencing its worse flooding in a decade as Australia burns.
Around Braidwood A bushfire emergency has been declared for the outskirts of Hobart.
• Braidwood to Nelligen: the Kings Highway is closed You can follow along here.
• Braidwood to Moruya: Araluen Road is closed Lives and homes are in danger.
• Braidwood to Cooma: Cooma Road is closed The air quality in Canberra is slowly shutting down businesses
In and around the Snowy Mountains And meanwhile
• Tumut to Adaminaby: the Snowy Mountains Highway is closed Fuel scarcity remains another big issue for those trying to get through.
• Batlow to Tumbarumba: Batlow Road is closed Phil Coorey:
• Jindabyne to Khancoban: Alpine Way is closed Coorey says a lack of information is one of the biggest problems:
A number of smaller local roads are also closed in the south coast and Snowy Mountains areas, and many roads crossing the NSW-Victorian border are also closed, including the Monaro Highway between Rockton and Cann River (Victoria). Phil Coorey says the smoke has followed him the entire trip:
Up-to-the-minute information about road closures is available at livetraffic.com. The Australian Financial Review political editor Phil Coorey is speaking to the ABC about what is happening in the south coast as people attempt to evacuate.
The Princes Highway remains open in the following locations: This has just come through.
• Between Tomerong and Nowra Mike Kelly has just had a chat to us to update us on what is happening in his electorate.
• Between Moruya and Narrabarba (south of Eden) Evacuations through the electorate of Monaro are just continuing through the Brown Mountain route - which Kelly says is the only one open.
The Snowy Mountains Highway is open at Bega so anyone on the far south coast can travel to Canberra or Sydney via the Snowy Mountains Highway to Cooma, the Monaro Highway to Canberra and the Hume Highway. He says he has been looking at the possibility of setting up an evacuation centre in the ACT or Queanbeyan given that Bega is getting over run.
Motorists are advised to allow plenty of extra travel time as traffic on the Snowy Mountains Highway is very heavy. He is looking at stop over capacity for those trying to get through to Victoria - maybe the Queanbeyan showgrounds.
Motorists in these areas are advised to exercise extreme caution, follow the directions of emergency services and traffic crews and drive with headlights switched on due to smoke in the area. “Hopefully what we can do is just keep people moving, because the air quality is appalling at the moment, this is not just a great place for stopping people over.”
We have a road closure update for you, for those in NSW: For residents left in those towns, the advice is still to get to the bigger centres and follow directions.
The Transport Management Centre is currently advising (current as at 3.45pm):
The Princes Highway is now closed between Milton and Tomerong due to a bushfire.
• Motorists heading north from areas between Batemans Bay and Milton are advised to delay their trip, as the road is expected to remain closed for several hours due to fire activity.
• Motorists already on the highway are advised to stop in Milton or Ulladulla.
• There is very heavy northbound traffic on the Princes Highway heading towards Milton.
The Princes Highway is also closed in the following locations:
• Between Batemans Bay and Moruya
• Between Narrabarba (south of Eden) and Cann River (Victoria)
From Narrabarba, you can travel west on Imlay Road to the Monaro Highway to head north.
Josh Frydenberg said Scott Morrison will tour the Victorian fires in “the coming days”.
The treasurer has also defended the prime minister’s response so far:
On the cost of the disaster, Josh Frydenberg says it is too early to tell.