Queensland conditions ‘catastrophic’

BRISBANE: When a dangerous fire in central Queensland raced towards Mount Larcom, Rhonda Anderson mounted her horse to ride 30km to Gladstone as a wall of smoke dwarfed the small town.

‘‘I’ve locked the house up. It’s the first time we’ve had fires like this in Mount Larcom,’’ she told AAP.

‘‘It is a big surprise.’’

Other residents were evacuated by bus, or left by car.

Fire crews had been monitoring the blaze at Ambrose, west of Gladstone, as conditions steadily worsened throughout yesterday.

Mandatory evacuations of 8000 residents of Gracemere, in Queensland, were under way as another of the state’s 138 wildfires bore down on homes in catastrophic fire conditions.

Despite the extreme danger, some residents were refusing to leave and businesses were still trading in the Central Queensland community.

The Gracemere BP petrol station remained open as people fleeing the fire called in for petrol and supplies.

The large fire, sparked shortly before 3pm yesterday (6pm NZT), was racing towards Gracemere, just south of Rockhampton .

Queensland Fire Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the sudden flareup was a sign of how volatile and dangerous conditions had become yesterday.

‘‘This is what we have been saying all along. We will see more fires flare up very quickly. This is the start of it,’’ Carroll said.

‘‘It is very difficult to get a sense of how long people have in that area because the winds are picking up even faster than what was expected.’’

Queensland State Disaster Coordinator Deputy Commissioner Bob Gee said people had to get out immediately.

‘‘If it was me, I would go right now. Straight away.’’

Queensland’s fire conditions yesterday were ‘‘catastrophic,’’ the first time it had been escalated to that level.

The combination of heat, wind and dry thunderstorms with lightning were sparking unpredictable blazes.

A massive bushfire in the Deepwater region was described as a ‘‘firestorm’’ and had also sparked mass evacuations.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last night pledged federal help for the Queensland bushfire emergency.

‘‘The entire country is coming to your aid. The entire country is there to help in this time of great need,’’ Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

Meanwhile in Sydney, torrential rain and galeforce winds caused commuter chaos, flooding streets, railway stations and homes, grounding flights and leaving hundreds of people without electricity.

Two people were killed during the storm and two police officers seriously injured when a tree fell on them as they assisted a stranded motorist.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said within just a few hours Sydney received more than 100mm of rain, its normal amount for all of November.

— AAP/Reuters