Wildfire destroys 3 homes in southeastern Australia and a man is injured by a falling tree
Three homes were destroyed by a forest fire and a man was injured by a falling tree in the Bega Valley region of southeastern Australia, prompting a government leader to warn that a โhorrorโ wildfire season is approaching.
Tropical Storm Nalgae, flooding in Australia and Hurricane Lisa in Belize
Hello, and welcome to November! Typically this can be a very active time for us here in Southeast Texas with cold air moving in and interacting with our warm moist Gulf air, forming a secondary severe weather season. Thankfully for us here, our tropical season is done, but that is NOT the case across the globe.
Australian state sees record cases, lab sends false results
Australiaโs most populous state has reported a record number of new COVID-19 cases and a sharp jump in hospitalizations while thousands of people were isolating at home after contracting the virus or coming into contact with someone who has.
WATCH: Thousands of spiders take refuge in Australia after devastating floods
Spiders in Australia are seeking refuge after floods ravaged the New South Wales area. NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia โ Residents in Australiaโs most populous state are not only dealing with the aftermath of recent floods, but now, deadly arthropods are seeking refuge in homes. Williams noticed the โcreepy crawliesโ on the garage door and parts of the front of her house before evacuating from her home per New South Walesโ mandatory evacuation order. Many other residents also reported โthousandsโ of spiders seeking refuge from floodwaters, pushing them to residential homes, according to social media. AdOver 18,000 residents evacuated from their homes due to the devastating floods in most of southeastern Australia, and is in a state of emergency due to the evolving situation, CNN reported.
2 trapped drivers become first Australian flood fatalities
A car got trapped in floodwater northwest of Sydney at dawn Wednesday and emergency services later recovered it with a body inside, officials said. While rain has eased across New South Wales and southern Queensland, flooding has persisted. Most rivers had peaked by Thursday, but 20,000 people were still evacuated from their homes, New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said. Parts of New South Wales, Australiaโs most populous state, have received one-in-50-year and one-in-100-year rainfall records in the past week. AdInsurance companies expect the damage in New South Wales to exceed 1 billion Australian dollars ($760 million).
Australian east coast rain to ease but flooding continues
Paul Zammit carries his pet emu, Gookie, after rescuing her from floodwater in Windsor, northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)SYDNEY โ Heavy rainfall was forecast to ease across Australiaโs east coast but floodwaters will linger for days across New South Wales state where 15,000 people were nervously waiting on Tuesday for potential orders to evacuate. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday said several weather fronts continued to effect large swaths of the state. Morrison said the New South Wales government had already requested 1,000 defense personnel to help clean up after the floods. The flooding rain had extended along the New South Wales coast across the Queensland state border in the north and almost as far as Victoria border to the south.
Dozens of towns isolated by flooding in Australian state
Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters that have isolated dozens of towns in Australia's most populous state New South Wales and forced thousands to evacuate their homes as record rain continues. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)CANBERRA โ Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters that have isolated dozens of towns in Australiaโs most populous state New South Wales and forced thousands to evacuate their homes as record rain continues to inundate the countryโs east coast. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said up to 38 parts of the state had been declared natural disaster areas. Heavy rain will remain a serious risk on Tuesday for the Mid North Coast, where communities are facing the worst flooding conditions since 1929. Communities along the Hawkesbury River were also bracing for the worst flooding in the area since 1961.
Australia's most populous state hit by severe rains, floods
A truck drives through a flooded road at Old Pitt Town north west of Sydney, Australia, Sunday, March 21, 2021. Australia's most populous state of New South Wales on Sunday issued more evacuation orders following the worst flooding in decades. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)SYDNEY โ Australia's most populous state of New South Wales on Sunday issued more evacuation orders following the worst flooding in decades. The New South Wales State Emergency Services responded to 640 calls for help on Saturday night, including 66 for flood rescues. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said that hundreds of people have been rescued from the waters.
Australian police boss suggests app to prove sexual consent
New South Wales state Police Commissioner Mick Fuller addresses the media during a press conference in Sydney Thursday, March 18, 2021. Fuller suggested on Thursday a phone app be developed to document sexual consent in a bid to improve conviction rates in sex crime cases. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image via AP)CANBERRA โ A senior Australian policeman suggested on Thursday a phone app be developed to document sexual consent in a bid to improve conviction rates in sex crime cases. โConsent must be active and ongoing throughout a sexual encounter.โResponses to the consent app suggestion have been largely negative or skeptical. Lesley-Anne Ey, a University of South Australia expert on harmful sexual behavior involving children, said she didnโt think the app would work.
As endangered birds lose their songs, they can't find mates
This 2016 photo provided by Murray Chambers shows a male regent honeyeater bird in Capertee Valley in New South Wales, Australia. For five years, ecologist Ross Crates has tracked the singing ability and breeding success of critically endangered regent honeyeaters. While male birds once formed large winter flocks, now they are sparsely distributed across the landscape, so many fly solo. About 12% of male regent honeyeaters wind up producing mangled versions of songs typically sung by noisy friarbirds and black-faced cuckooshrikes, among other species. Some birds learn from their fathers, but regent honeyeaters leave the nest before they learn to sing, so the males need to find other mentors.
Asia Today: Australian states reimpose travel restrictions
(AP Photo/Mark Baker)SYDNEY โ More Australian states and territories are reimposing travel restrictions to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus from new outbreaks in New South Wales and Victoria states. The Australian Capital Territory has shut out non-residents who have been on the northern beaches of Sydney, where the outbreaks are most concentrated, Greater Sydney and other smaller centers, unless they have an exemption. In total, there have been 21 locally acquired Victorian cases over recent days, all linked to the New South Wales outbreak. Victoriaโs border is now closed to all travelers from New South Wales. Officials said that 294 of the new cases reported Sunday were local infections.
Asia Today: Australian state under fire for slow response
Trace testing has linked the new Melbourne coronavirus cluster to the New South Wales outbreak. The newest occurred at midnight Friday when Victoria closed its border to New South Wales, prompting traffic bottlenecks as people raced to beat the closure. Once in Victoria, COVID-19 testing sites saw long queues as travelers lined up for mandatory testing. South Korea reported 824 new cases, raising the national tally to 62,593 with 942 deaths. โ Thai authorities are planning to launch two levels of restrictions of activities for highly controlled areas where coronavirus cases are on the rise.
2021 arrives around the world
(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)CANBERRA โ This New Yearโs Eve is being celebrated like no other in most of the world, with many bidding farewell to a year theyโd prefer to forget. Some countries and cities canceled or scaled back their festivities, while others without active outbreaks carried on like any other year. Instead, we should bring in 2021 in our own homes with just our own households," Scotlandโs First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said. Many around the world looked toward 2021 with hope, partly due to the arrival of vaccines that offer a chance of beating the pandemic. Initial reports about a mystery respiratory illness sickening people in the Chinese city of Wuhan emerged exactly a year ago.
Asia Today: Outbreak grows in Sydneyโs beach suburbs
Health workers record migrant workers ahead of collecting nasal swab samples from them to test for COVID-19 in Samut Sakhon, south of Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. Thailand on Sunday reported a few new local infections, a day after identifying more than 500 cases south of Bangkok in a country that had largely brought the pandemic under control. (AP Photo/ Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul)SYDNEY โ The outbreak in Sydneyโs northern beach suburbs has grown to 70 cases with an additional 30 in the last 24 hours, and authorities say they may never be able to trace the source. A new list of cases, however, shows the virus had spread to greater Sydney and other parts of the state. Thailandโs Disease Control Department said Sunday that they found 141 more cases linked to the market outbreak.
The Latest: India reports 933 deaths as cases near 2.1M
The state has had few new COVID-19 cases in the past month. Arizona health officials reported 1,406 new confirmed COVID-19 cases and 79 coronavirus-related deaths. ___MEXICO CITY Mexico has posted 6,717 newly confirmed coronavirus cases, increasing the countrys accumulated total to 469,407. The state health department says the virus hasnt stopped there were 1,265 newly diagnosed cases Friday. More than 128,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Louisiana, which has 4.6 million residents.
Asia Today: Australian virus hot spot moves to add sick beds
A woman wearing a face mask to help protect against the spread of the new coronavirus walks through a field of sunflowers at a park in Ansan, South Korea, Wednesday, July 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)MELBOURNE Australias coronavirus hot spot Victoria state moved to increase its available hospital beds Thursday and reported a record daily high of 317 infections. But we cannot be complacent and expect thats going to happen automatically.New South Wales, the only other state regarded as an active Australian virus hot spot, reported 10 new cases on Thursday. In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region: South Korea reported 61 new cases, most of them tied to international arrivals. South Korea has been requiring two-week quarantines on all passengers arriving from overseas since April.
Asia Today: Australian state's cases spike, borders to shut
Andrews also announced that the state border with New South Wales will be closed from late Tuesday night in an agreement between the two state premiers and Prime Minister Scott Morrison. New South Wales had previously banned travel from dozens of Melbourne suburbs that were locked down last week for a month due to high rates of infection. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian had criticized states that closed their borders to New South Wales residents when Sydney, the state capital and Australia's largest city, had most of the country's COVID-19 cases. The Department of Health reported 2,434 cases in recent days, the majority in metropolitan Manila, raising cases nationwide to more than 44,250, including 1,297 deaths. China reported four new cases, three from outside the country and one transmitted locally in Beijing, the National Health Commission reported.
Australia to shut state border as Melbourne infections surge
Women hold signs outside housing commission apartments under lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday, July 6, 2020. The border between the states of New South Wales home to Sydney and Victoria home to Melbourne is due to be shut late Tuesday. The infections announced Monday surpassed the first surge of infections in Melbourne that peaked on March 28 at 111 cases recorded in a day. The federal government had previously opposed any internal border closures aimed mostly at stopping spread from Victoria and New South Wales. Of those, 10 had been in hotel quarantine in New South Wales and three in Western AustraliaNew South Wales police will enforce the Victorian border closure.