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<p><em><font color="#800080"><u>Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology</u></font></em></p>
<p><em><u><font color="#800080">The exceptional January-February 2009 heatwave in south-eastern Australia:</font></u></em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs17.pdf">http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/statements/scs17.pdf</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jbqaLR_KBPvAjcFZsB9qpjDoxmjA">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jbqaLR_KBPvAjcFZsB9qpjDoxmjA</a></p>
<p>KINGLAKE, Australia (AFP) — The death toll from the worst wildfires in Australia's history -- described by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as "hell in all its fury" -- has risen to 108, authorities said Monday.</p>
<p>Firefighters in the southeast of the country were battling dozens of blazes amid fears the death toll could rise still further, as emergency crews sifted through the charred remains of entire towns razed in the inferno.</p>
<p>People died in their cars as they attempted to escape the fast-advancing flames -- smouldering wrecks on roads outside this town told of failed attempts to flee -- while others were burnt to death in their homes.</p></div>
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<div><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWZq5K42KX2ZF6kWCJx_6m03p9PA">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iWZq5K42KX2ZF6kWCJx_6m03p9PA</a></div>
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<div>SYDNEY (AFP) — Intense wildfires raged out of control on Saturday as southeastern Australia sweltered through a record heatwave, while floodwaters in the country's sodden north continued to rise.</div>
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<div>High winds fanned more than 50 fires across three states in tinderbox conditions as the once-in-a-century heatwave topped 46 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit).</div>
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<p>Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, recorded its hottest-ever February day, peaking at 46.4 degrees by mid-afternoon, with temperatures soaring above 47 degrees further inland.</p>
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<p>Much of Queensland state has been declared a disaster zone, with an area of more than one million square kilometres (386,100 square miles) and 3,000 homes affected by floods due to torrential rains.</p>
<p>Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate, or have been stranded in their homes for up to six days.</p>
<p>The sugar cane and cattle industries have been devastated by the floods, with tens of thousands of stranded cows starving to death.</p>
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<p>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</p></div>