Some flee, others restock before Australia's wildfires grow

Thousands of tourists fled Australia's wildfire-ravd eastern coast Thursday ahe of worsening conditions as military started to evacuate people trapped on shore furr south.

Cooler wear since Tuesday has aided firefighting and allowed people to replenish supplies. Vehicles formed long lines at gas stations and supermarkets, and traffic was gridlocked as highways reopened. But fire conditions were expected to deteriorate Saturday as high temperatures and strong winds return.

“re is every potential that conditions on Saturday will be as b or worse than we saw (on Tuesday),” New South Wales Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers said.

Authorities said 381 homes h been destroyed on New South Wales sourn coast this week and at least eight people have died this week in state and neighboring Victoria, Australia's two most-populous states, where more than 200 fires are currently burning.

New South Wales authorities in morning ordered tourists to leave a 250-kilometer (155-mile) zone along picturesque south coast. State Transport Minister Andrew Constance said it is “largest mass relocation of people out of region that we've ever seen.”

In Victoria, where 68 homes have burned this week, military was helping thousands of people who fled to shore as a wildfire threatened ir homes Tuesday in coastal town of Mallacoota. Food, water, fuel and medical expertise were being delivered and about 500 people were going to be evacuated from town by a naval ship.

“We think around 3,000 tourists and 1,000 locals are re. t all of those will want to leave, t all can get on vessel at one time,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told Australian Brocasting Corporation.

early and devastating start to Australia’s summer wildfires has led authorities to rate this season worst on record. About 5 million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land have burned, with at least 17 people de and more than 1,300 homes destroyed.

Prime Minster Scott Morrison said crisis was likely to last for months. “It (fires) will continue to go on until we can get some decent rain that can deal with some of fires that have been burning for many, many months,” Morrison told reporters on Thursday.

Smoke from wildfires caused air quality in national capital, Canberra, to be world's worst and was blowing into New Zealand.