オーストラリア：嵐と野火とで苦悩中

　この季節には例年のことになってしまった感がある。これから数カ月間、野火と森林火災とで延々報道が続くことになろうか。―まずは嵐で送電網が破壊され、なにやら最大53万人ほどが電気無し生活を強いられたことから記事は始まる。

BBC Australia: Severe weather batters state of Victoria 14 Feb 2024　By Kathryn Armstrong

　強風で送電線・塔がダメになったと。なにしろ立ち木が根扱ぎにされるほどの風。そりゃあ無理だ。

「Nearly half a million homes were left without power in the Australian state of Victoria after a storm knocked out parts of the network.

Videos posted online showed torrential rain and gale-force winds uprooting trees and blowing entire sheds away.

One dairy farmer was killed - authorities suspect he was struck by flying debris while on a tractor.

The wild weather also hampered efforts to fight massive bushfires in the state's west.」

　そんなのが吹くほどだから、空気も土地も乾燥し、当然のように火災が起こる。州の史上有数の危機だとか。

「The state's energy minister, Lily D'Ambrosio, said Tuesday's power blackout - which authorities warn could last for weeks - was one of the largest in Victoria's history.

"At the peak, 529,000 were without power due to physical damage to power lines caused by extreme weather," she said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.」