Wildfires burning across Australia's two most populous states Tuesday trapped residents of a seaside town in apocalyptic conditions and killed at least two people while more property along the country's east coast fell victim to a devastating fire season.
About 4,000 residents in the southeastern town of Mallacoota in Victoria state fled toward the water Tuesday morning as winds pushed an emergency-level wildfire toward their homes.
Smoke filling the sky shrouded the town in darkness before turning an unnerving shade of bright red.
Australia's annual wildfire season, which peaks during the Southern Hemisphere summer, started early after an unusually warm and dry winter.
Record-breaking heat and windy conditions triggered devastating wildfires in New South Wales and Queensland states in September.
About 5 million hectares (12.35 million acres) of land have burned nationwide over the past few months, with 12 people confirmed dead and more than 1,000 homes destroyed.
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Nearly 100 fires were burning across the state of New South Wales, which is home to Sydney.
New South Wales state Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said this wildfire season is the worst on record and painted a bleak long-term picture.
"We've seen extraordinary fire behavior," he said Tuesday.
"What we really need is meaningful rain, and we haven't got anything in the forecast at the moment that says we're going to get drought-breaking or fire-quenching rainfall."
"The other person that we are trying to get to, we think that person was trying to defend their property in the early hours of the morning."