Fire Australia: dozens of houses destroyed

tathra - A wildfire has certainly destroyed 69 houses in the Australian coastal town of Tathra. Dozens of other homes were damaged, reports Australian media. Hundreds of residents fled the approaching sea of ​​flames.

Many residents of the town in the state of New South Wales initially sought a safe haven on the nearby beach. A witness spoke to ABC News about 'between fifty and a hundred people'. Due to the smoke development, the visibility deteriorated considerably. 'At any point we had at most two meters of sight,' said the 21-year-old man.

The police finally sent them to the nearby town of Bega, where about 200 people were accommodated in a shelter. Other displaced residents slept in their vehicles or spent the night in a hotel.

The fire brigade stated that the fire could quickly seize around on Sunday due to a combination of strong winds, high temperatures, low humidity and the drought. Residents can not yet return to Tathra, where hundreds of houses would have been spared.