Mass evacuations underway in Australia as raging fires endanger towns, char million of acres

Tens of thousands of residents have been driven from their homes throughout the states of New South Wales and Victoria as Australia's catastrophic bushfire season continues.

Communities within New South Wales and Victoria were placed under a declared state of emergency on Thursday morning, allowing New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to forcibly open or close roads and mandate public evacuations.

"We don't take these decisions lightly," Berejiklian said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Kangaroo Island was another place where the bushfire situation worsened on Friday. A fire, named the Ravine fire, was burning on the island's west end for several days within containment lines.

Changing winds from an incoming front caused the fire to jump the continent lines, uncontrollably expanding in all directions through the Flinders Chase National Parks and towards Southern Ocean Lodge, a luxury resort in the area. While fighting the blaze, the Country Fire Service (CFS) closed roadways and asked for those in the region to evacuate, including the town of Parndana.

Reports came in Friday evening that the luxury resort sustained significant damage from the fires. However, in following their evacuation and fire emergency plan, no guests or staff were injured.

Residents and tourists along the country's South Coast, particularly those from the town of Batemans Bay to the Victorian border, were being urged to leave before Saturday.

"It is not safe, do not be in this area on Saturday," official fire warnings from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) state.

On Saturday night, there were reports that a water tower reservoir in Cooma, New South Wales, had burst, flooding homes, washing away cars and causing property damage.

The burnt acreage total and death toll were both officially raised on New Year's Day to total over 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of burnt land and 17 deaths. The deadly crisis has also extended to wildlife in the country, as an estimated 480 million animals have been killed by the disasters.

Smoke from the dozens of fires in Victoria and New South Wales was visible from space on Saturday. (Photo/NASA).

Sussan Ley, the federal environment minister, previously said that up to 30 percent of the country's koala population may have been killed due to the destruction of their habitat.

According to The Guardian, the number of residents evacuating is expected to compare to the 60,000 people that evacuated their homes before Cyclone Tracy in 1974. The current evacuation area for the bushfire, declared "leave zones," extends hundreds of kilometers.

In its evacuation declarations, the RFS has bluntly told citizens that they must respond quickly if they want to live.

"You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive," the RFS announced earlier this week. "The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave."

Later in the statement, the service listed last resort options if residents are unable to get indoors. One of those options included getting into a large body of water.

On Tuesday morning, around 4,000 people in the coastal town of Mallacoota were forced to take that last resort and evacuated to the ocean. Heavy winds rushed the deadly flames into the town and forced residents to get into boats in order to survive.

Local fire chief Steve Warrington told the BBC that the whole town of evacuees gave a loud cheer when the winds changed direction and took the fire away from the town.

In response to the mass evacuations and need for help around Victoria, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds agreed to send military aid to provide humanitarian assistance and carry out evacuations in the coming days.

Multiple Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and Navy vessels have been sent to Victoria and New South Wales for aid. The aircraft will be used for firefighting efforts as well.

A 175-meter naval military supply ship has also been commissioned to help deliver the 4,000 evacuated residents from the Mallacoota Beach. Victorian police have also been using boats to bring supplies to those isolated in the town.

Andrews and other officials are hoping that the utilization of the state of emergency spurs people to act while they still can.

"Essentially, this declaration is the first time these powers have been used because we face unprecedented risk to life and property in coming days," Andrews said. "The fires are unprecedented in their size, their scale and the risk they pose to so many people right across affected communities... If you can leave, you must leave - if you don't, we simply cannot guarantee your safety."