Word: worst
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...have been deliberately set, and the sheer increase in the number of homes built in fire-danger zones in southern Australia today puts more people in harm's way, raising the potential death toll. Still, heat waves and drought set the table for wildfires, and temperatures in the worst-hit areas have been over 110°F (43°C) while humidity has bottomed out near zero. Climate change will continue to be a threat multiplier for forest fires. (See the top 10 green ideas...
...warming, including more aggressive responses to wildfires like those in Australia, will become all the more critical, lest natural disasters turn into human catastrophes. But it also means that the world we've become accustomed to will change, perhaps irrevocably. The wildfires in southern Australia are already the worst in the nation's history - but they surely won't be the last...
...worst hit areas were between 35 miles and 60 miles (60 km to 100 km) northeast of Melbourne. There, the town of Kinglake lost 20 of its residents, St Andrews, 12, Marysville eight, and Steels Creek seven. It happened quickly. Marysville motel owner Christine Adams says that the only warning was a red glow in the sky. "We sent the guests packing and put a few things in the car and then we saw the flames. It was like a huge fireball that came over the hill. It was moving very fast and we grabbed a few more things...
...Monday night the death toll in Australia's worst ever natural disaster had risen to 131. That number will rise as police and fire crews go deeper into the disaster zone and uncover further horrors. More than 750 homes have been razed and over 770 sq. mi. (2000 sq. km.) in the southeastern state of Victoria have been burned. "We know tragically many lives have been lost," Victorian premier (governor) John Brumby said in a television address to the state. "We have grave concerns for many more. Out there it has been hell on earth...
...Many of the worst stories are all too real. The Harvey family fled Kingslake ahead of the flames but told of how the children of a local businessman had perished in the blaze. "He [the businessman] apparently went to put the kids in the car, put them in, turned around to grab something from the house, then his car was on fire with his kids in it and they burnt," Victoria Harvey told reporters...