‘Move out tonight': First Code Red since 2010 issued for parts of Victoria

People living in high bushfire-risk areas in Victoria's north and north-west have been urged to leave their homes as soon as possible as the region faces the worst fire conditions in 10 years.

A fire threatens homes at Hepburn, Victoria, in February this year.

A Code Red – the state’s highest bushfire warning level – has been declared across the Mallee and Northern Country regions for Thursday.

It is the first time a Code Red has been declared in Victoria since 2010. A total fire ban across the state has also been declared.

Read the story from The Age by Liam Mannix - “‘Move out tonight': First Code Red since 2010 issued for parts of Victoria.”

NSW water woes worsen with river to dry up as tomato town faces crisis

The drought gripping much of NSW is tightening, forcing authorities to prepare to cut flows along a major river in the north-west, while job losses loom as towns in the Northern Tablelands start to dry.

Steven Gibbs walks in a dry section of Lake Burrendong
in western NSW as plunging reservoir levels trigger limited
water flows along the Macquarie River.

WaterNSW on Monday will announce that unless conditions improve, regulated flows along the Macquarie River below the town of Warren will cease from early spring to prioritise water supplies for towns and key users.

Even those users - such as the Western Plains Zoo, Cobar mines and Dubbo's abattoirs and golf club - are "at risk of having reduced access to water" without fresh inflows.

Pressure is likely to mount on Dubbo to introduce water restrictions as the main dam supplying the regional centre of about 40,000 sinks to just 6 per cent full.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Peter Hannam - “NSW water woes worsen with river to dry up as tomato town faces crisis.”