Yesterday, thousands of people fled to Chadstone shopping centre.
60,000 to be exact.
Unfortunately it wasn't to score a bargain but to escape the hottest day on record, 46.4C at 3pm. It trumped the previous benchmark of 45.6C recorded on Black Friday, 13 Jan 1939.
It was Black Saturday and as the automatic doors of the shopping centre tiresomely welcomed patrons the hot wind stuck like glue. The usually arctic temperature of the cooling system was no match for what Black Saturday had in store for Victoria.
This morning's headline read; "At least 14 dead in horror flames" and tonight the number has escalated to 65. The raging inferno, that is officially Victoria's worst ever bushfires, has swept through Victoria's bushland circling Melbourne. Rural properties in Bunyip and Maiden Gully and those suburban ones in Fentree Gully and Narre Warren perish.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced a $10 million emergency relief fund for the victims of Victoria's bushfires.
Black Saturday occured 9 days before the tragic Ash Wednesday fires, a natural disaster that happened in South eastern Australia on 16 Feb 1983 . 65 people are dead and 640 homes have been lost. Sadly these numbers will only increase.
Up North, Queensland is experiencing flash floods and king tides. Go figure.
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