The enormity of south-east Australia's forest fires was revealed Sunday, with as many as 40 people believed dead,
hundreds of houses destroyed and swathes of countryside turned to ash, dpa reported.
The official death toll from Saturday's inferno stands at 35,
but police expect a rise above 40 as they pick through the wreckage of homes,
sheds and of the vehicles that failed to outrun the fires.
Melbourne's Alfred Hospital is struggling to cope with burns
victims.
"There are apparently cars along the roadside just
abandoned," trauma specialist John Coleridge said. "Unfortunately
they'll probably find many more people, many of whom may not survive."
The call has gone out for refrigerated containers to be used
as temporary morgues to preserve bodies yet to be identified.
"It's going to take quite some time to be in a position
to do identification, to be able to indicate even a gender of some people and
the age of some people," deputy police chief Kieran Walshe said.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called in the army to help with the
firefighting and to help shift smouldering tree trunks that block roads,
preventing ambulances getting through to the injured.
A caller to local radio who identified herself only as
Georgina said her town of Strathewen was unrecognizable.
"The school is gone, the hall is gone - some people left
it too late. We've lost friends and we're just waiting for more - children,
loved ones," she said. "They are calling out to houses and they can't
hear people answering."
In the nearby mountain resort of Marysville, home to 1,000
people, local reporter Jane Cowan said only a handful of buildings remained
standing.
"There are stories of households that sheltered three
families in one house, of gas bottles from nearby houses exploding and then
piercing their houses and then those houses catching fire as well," Cowan
told national broadcaster ABC.
"A woman who was found in her car this morning -
obviously was trying to escape (but) she didn't make it - she had her crockery
on the seat beside her in the car," she added.
Victoria state Premier John Brumby said strong winds in
tandem with fiery temperatures combined to create tinderbox conditions a
volunteer army of 30,000 firefighters backed by 37 water-bombing aircraft
simply could not match.
"Some of these fires just weren't possible to
control," Brumby said. "You've had firefighters that were literally
facing flames that were four storeys high."
Melbourne recorded its hottest February day on Saturday, with
the temperature above 46 degrees. Inland of the port city of over 3 million
people, the heat was even higher in the southern hemisphere summer.
Officials had warned of a possible repeat of the Ash
Wednesday blazes in 1983 that left 75 people dead and razed 2,800 houses.
"It's just a day, I hope in my lifetime is never
repeated," Brumby said.
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