Wildfires are wreaking havoc in the area west of Sydney at the moment and have led to extremely ominous looking skies above Australia’s largest city.
According to reports, fires blazing in the western suburbs of the city have destroyed dozens of homes and strong gusts of wind have led to clouds of smoke and ash lurking ominously over the city, illustrated by pictures which have been doing the rounds on Twitter in the last number of hours.
Clouds of bushfire smoke on Sydney Harbour pic.twitter.com/oYPNDgdkEH
— Grill Team (@GrillTeam) October 17, 2013
@Channel9 Sydney right now #nswfires #SydneyFires pic.twitter.com/32FVYdTZfD
— Lucas Wheeler (@TheLucasWheeler) October 17, 2013
Smoke over Sydney today because the bush fires pic.twitter.com/XFnLvT8RwZ
— mickO (@MickOweis) October 17, 2013
Planes flying into #sydney now in the Eastern suburbs. @sunriseon7 @7NewsSydney #bushfires pic.twitter.com/RJKPjrdlme
— Nora samir (@Norraa1) October 17, 2013
@702sydney from long reef sydney pic.twitter.com/fHhaD3J2fh
— daniel jackson (@dorktron) October 17, 2013
Spectacular #nswbushfire UGC is streaming thru’ Storyful’s discovery tools today. Hope folks keep safe. pic.twitter.com/IIaCOrj2BV
— Malachy Browne (@malachybrowne) October 17, 2013
Up to 80 fires are reported to have been burning in the Blue Mountains region and in other areas of New South Wales, where Newcastle Airport, approximately 160 kilometres to the north of Sydney, has been closed, as have numerous schools and workplaces as hundreds of firefighters attempt to battle the blaze.
A complete fire ban has been issued across city while residents with breathing difficulties have been advised to stay indoors due to hot and windy conditions, with temperatures expected to reach 34 degrees centigrade.
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