from what part of the flashes from. this is where. welcome to 77 percent. this weekend on t.w. . more than $12000000.00 hectares of land have been ravaged since the outbreak of the astray in bushfires in october 29th teen that's an area almost $100.00 times the size of australia. 1000000000 mammals reptiles and birds have died in the flames.

many firefighting crews are working to the brink of exhaustion. heavy rain has brought relief to some areas but it's already causing flooding in others. strangely it was not prepared for a catastrophe of the scale. how could things get so out of hand. algernon begins in the southeast in broken hill in the state of new south wales. the cullen's live here in the outback the country's vast and remote interior.

when i was brennan cullen and i live on cars station which is 60 kilometers southeast of broken hill and spent a whole lot and right until. it's spring and everything here should be blossoming but the region suffering from a severe drought the last raindrops fell in october 28. twice a week brendan cullen travels into town to buy drinking water. as he spent a lot of tomboy self driving around so you see a lot. and you think a lot probably too much taller and. you know some toffs. you know i wish. for ryan and i think at times we've got together 'd as a community and. you know i had

a couple ryan dances. 2019 was the hottest year in astray since temperature recordings began in 1910. certainly not look at the 20 s. because i'm a mean it just gives yang saudi levels i mean they go through the roof and i what torment yourself with the. australian is currently experiencing the worst strength of its history in many regions the groundwater is running dry that's unprecedented . so what will go in the 1st of all should. brendan cullen has some 5000 sheep the grass is too dry to keep cattle there is seldom more than a few sprinkles of rain the drought is not just affecting the southeast of the country almost the whole of australia has been hit. in

2019 there was 40 percent less precipitation than average that is the lowest figure in 120 years. it's a bit of a base really from all angles. the drought will affect your animals. it'll affect. your mental health and that's the whole family. brendan cullen has been forced to drastically reduce the number of livestock on his farm he no longer has enough water for the 10000 sheep he used to have this would be only the longest dry period with their right. to do in

a drought you might get something but this is just becoming ridiculous. brendan cullen is trying to take heart from photos he took after the last rains. look back at what it used to be like and you know that sister around the corner. can look at him and. just reminisce and what it can be like. so i asked her. to cinema was we've known each other since for about $14151.00 of the best sings of bone i would have just seen or been i would have is to be out of bringing our kids up in the bush and it's a great branding. i might say some horrible things along the y. but i become very levelheaded there i would a deal with some very ordinary situations because i see a lot of their children help whenever they can but none of them want to follow in

their father's footsteps. like that but when we come home we often help dad i'm in a boarding school sorry i come back to it and i notice things change and i come back and things are changing and it's getting dry air. one factor contributing to the drought in southeastern australia is the southwood shift of winds in the cool season which cause rain bearing fronts to bypass the region. climate change is making a strain is unpredictable weather even more volatile. last time i have a problem break from any work was. probably. maybe maybe 2 years jerry i think he had a he had a pretty good break. the cullen's have gone into debt to feed their animals. it costs them thousands of euros

a week to fill the water tanks and by struggle. i'm 45 years of age and what i've seen in that period of saying china or feel it's hotter in summer or maybe i'm just getting way out and i was just saying c.b. a lot more drive periods. i mean if anything's going to tip. in a business will be a drill and unfortunately it's one of the mining instigators of people leaving ling and so obscene that of saying that the 4 of experience that. for months they've been strictly rationing water for showering and laundry they use grey water for cleaning or for watering flower beds and trees. just into cullen continues to care for her garden despite the drought the few square metres

of greenery served as a reminder of better times. with my own husband i see the pressures of the drought and i see it with my friends you know it's really disheartening hearing them and their stories to going through hardships and. day and we just not socially we just don't catch up as much as we normally would because people too busy fading and. just can't get away. many farmers in southeast astray have already thrown in the towel. the question is whether farming will be feasible in the long term the suicide rate in rural areas is almost double what it is in urban areas or suffered from depression and i didn't realise i was suffering from an and. i suppose what brought it on was. just tough periods work so i went into the right in your own spot for some people and. i was diagnosed with depression and

. oh i spent the next 6 months on. tablets and a fair and wise and maims of recognizing honesty in the trigger points and what was said to me off. and. and they're very good at that but unfortunately their environment where. you know this is set the ball to what you know the weather. drought brings another danger with it the likelihood of fire fires have shapes this country aboriginal australians have long carried out controlled burns to avoid large scale fires and while this practice is still commonly used in western australia it's been neglected for decades in some other parts of the country. fs instead of preventative

fires the focus has shifted to containing the spread of fires a lot of combustible brush fire has accumulated. the consequences are catastrophic and not just for australia analysis from the u.s. space agency nasa indicates that the bushfires have admitted more than 250000000 tons of c o 2 into the atmosphere. as fire approaches the sky turns black and then red then the flames arrive. westralia as fire service depends overwhelmingly on volunteers cooks students and lawyers are among those who have been trying to face down the flames. for weeks or even months at a time they have neglected their day jobs to try to save their country they risk their lives to try to save communities from the flames the firefighters have lists

setting out the order of priority in which things should be saved. buildings that serve the community at top of the list and private homes come last. they were going to support. them if you want. this firefighting team just managed to save themselves in time. and it. was a. definite stop. the tragedy.

normally it's the sparsely populated remote areas that are hit but this year the fires have come very close to coastal areas where the majority of australians live . the temperatures in the bushfire areas can reach hundreds of degrees celsius almost 2 thirds of kabongo has been destroyed the village in new south wales is just 10 kilometers from the coast. getting a massive bill standing in the still. at the beginning of january liz lacey was forced to leave her home stables and her horses behind. to work.

with us we're going to thank god for that. most of the 774 inhabitants were evacuated in time for one man and his son help came too late. there's nothing left of liz lacey stables but because they were left on locked most of the horses were able to escape. anyway that's gone now. anyway. what are we building in. actually we shouldn't really be here because i have a trademark for a long standing. i. should go up. i mean let me buy cars. we're just going to go over the fiscal or the day 1st it's not that simple. and it was.

full of do it anybody else i'm getting great community we all help each other. the smoky air or things everyone especially the sick the elderly and the young the . air pollution here is now worse than india's small place capital delhi. most of the villages leave from farming some of their livestock and pets could be saved some escaped but others died a dreadful day. you'll hear you know an awesome let's say you. were going to war 2 months and that by the sea and bark. 600 pixel years. yeah it would start again hopefully the insurance is up to. the minute.

it's got herring only bought this land for himself and his family a few months ago. pretty quick on this lot more and more fuel in their. house. was the most beautiful house in the world but we were going to do something with it. this is the project. and you used to be good for it if you. go he's the goats. comey goats are going to come on. scott herring was lucky at least his goats have managed to survive. the support. here it's difficult going to be difficult on that i think if anywhere can do it really working poor through the model says it. can do it.

after the fires have been put out settles on the roads the fields the destroyed homes for the livestock that did survive there's a shortage of feed shortages caused by the drought and exacerbated by the bushfires . the situation is even more dramatic for australia's unique wildlife. an animal sanctuary stood here in this nature reserve there's no sign of life there's no sign of the dead animals there they're just beyond you know the bench. if i had no evacuated the animals of the show they could definitely been under threat so the toll on lay is huge i. sorry potent.

cool thing and just. yes. there we go see. you just deny this you see it a tiny little. here they're mainly looking after young animals that have lost their mothers. but. when they've recovered they'll be released as quickly as possible into the wild. just a few kilometers away volunteers are looking for feed for koalas the creatures survive primarily on

a diet of eucalyptus leaves and only certain types of them. if one forest burns down you can simply move koalas to another. tens of thousands of them are believed to have perished in the fires it's estimated that half the koala population may have died. over the years one bats another animal native only to a stray also lost a lot of their natural habitat surely lack looks after these herbivores. thought one better a lucky animal they don't have a lot of impact a surprise going out but it's when they come in and out after the fire that the grounds will bit nation if you change. the other guys on the side of the road looking for food in the heat and then the babies are living in the bar right at this stage in life but it comes back to get them and then after a couple of days looking for mum. it'll

never recovery malata never be lucky to recovery mark grandkids locked on. 2100 kilometers further north is a stray outstanding natural treasure the great barrier reef. we accompany one of the world's most renowned marine biologists out to sea. when i 1st. come into a world which i had no idea existed. i thought this was creation. it was what the gods must have created to make something ultra special. joan veron has discovered and studied more than a 5th of the world's corals. he spent more than $7000.00 now is on the water and the 75 year old isn't finished yet.

as soon as i'm in the water. i feel i'm at home i really do. they have very very essence of thing about causes they build their own place to live corals of got together with alvey to build things the nothing on earth could possibly rival that's how they live and i reckon that's as fascinating as it's biology can get. the corals of the great barrier reef have been bleaching out for years because the ocean is warming due to climate change and. i predicted that by

2015 the carbon dioxide levels would be so high that it would cause the bleaching practically every year. build horrible to be rocket scientists long to be right because that's what they have their businesses but it's all happening and the consequences of that have turned out to measure worse than those predictions the earth's largest coral reef system a unesco world heritage site is in trouble. it's exactly like me seeing my family slowly dying of something. it's very grave like. it's very hard to continue when so many people think oh there's nothing wrong and that makes me angry because this is utter stupidity. it's not just rising sea temperatures that are threatening the reef

agriculture is also partly to blame for the dying coral despite attempts to limit pollution pesticide runoff from farms continues to destroy this unique marine habitat. european settlers 1st began planting crops and tending livestock in coastal areas some 150 years ago. this agricultural land use has increased up to 10 fold the amount of sediment carried by rivers and streams into waters surrounding the great barrier reef along with large quantities of fertilizers and insecticides. australia has unique natural treasures which attract growing numbers of tourists each year some 8 and a half 1000000 visited in 2018. but astray is also the world's biggest coal exporter and the government continues to issue mining licenses. one in every 4 astray skeptical about climate change like retired miner tony

mcgrath. there you are going you're working guys you know you're both happy about mayo is more temporary live or for employers there not been a job and i think there's. a strain or not just world leaders in coal mining they also have their share of climate change deniers is it your 100 year ago. i don't think is going on a route i. think it is really. astray is biggest and probably best known c.z. is sydney with some 5000000 inhabitants. there are several mining areas in the city's hinterland. 15 year old jean hinchcliffe has become the icon of a strain is green movement. for months now the schoolgirl has been fighting the plans of the indian concern and danny to build a mine that would increase coal exports by 20 percent to transport the coal port

facilities very close to the great barrier reef would be expanded. alz 3 major goals firstly it's a no new sources of fossil fuels including the adani mine full renewable energy and exports by 20 saudis and for a just transition and job creation for all fossil fuel employed workers in communities. the strain here has some of the highest per capita c o 2 emissions for a highly industrialized nation. i mean and spent my life right now surrounded by its constant use of like polar ice caps melting and the great barrier reef dying animals losing their homes and bushfires floods in this really enormous issue which no one is seeming to care that much that and that's been really scary to me growing up knowing that this is my teacher and this is what we're leading into. as well as going to

school jean hinchcliffe organizes rallies and demonstrations. with the help of her friends and her mother. last september hinchcliffe attended the un youth climate action summit in new york. say while. she didn't plan to become a leading figure in the australian environmental movement. actually i just sent e-mail saying all of love to help out as anything i can do and suddenly i got a response saying all would love to help you achieve this goal and i'm like oh my gosh i know you guys i know how i wouldn't have it look. more than 2000 businesses a banking school students around the country killed strike today to demand more action against climate change for months now tens of thousands have been regularly

demonstrating against the government's climate policies. like the conservative liberal national coalition is coal friendly. you know how good it was yes i'm good. i'm. glad i was right as recently as last november the prime minister still denied a link between australia's activities and the severity of the bushfires i think we've got to caution against rising the anxieties of children in our country we've got to my sure that our kids understand the facts but they also have the context in the perspective and that we do not create things our team amongst children in how we talk about and do with these very real issues. but the devastating bushfires now

appear to be changing people's minds. according to a new survey some 78 percent of the strains now want to reduce the use of fossil fuels. my my my my my i. i am. the demonstrators make a direct link between climate change and the scale of bushfires him astray. this is not any new cd i'm sure iranians you know you don't cause you are multiposting the issue places and everybody.

should. read about using your ga identity in talking to. something to impress and i might like it i don't care it's just someone else i heard such a greater good that was have to have that. was. my.

essential india. fighting hunger strike. that's the mission of this retired police officer. i thought in the police that people would do anything water i mean i said you must have a good project collects leftovers from restaurants to feed the poor. to get. 30. dollars. cut.

this is news coming to you live from berlin in a state of the union address president double trump tells americans you've never had it so good in american adventure has only just begun and my fellow americans the best is yet to come and. republicans cheer and chant 4 more years but the democrats speaker of the house sitting just behind the president makes clear what she thinks of his speech. also coming up carette a virus confirmed on a cruise ship.