Latest statement from the Bega Valley Emergency Operations Centre:
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We have grave concerns for the lives of people still in Bermagui and north of Mogareeka.
Your live is at risk. You need to leave now.
If you have friends and family in this area and can make contact with them - please implore them to leave now.
Bush fire conditions will start to deteriorate from mid morning Saturday, push into Saturday night and into Sunday and be felt at different times across the Bega Valley.
Temperatures on Saturday are forecast to be in the low 40s, winds will strengthen and come in from different directions during the day.
The worsening conditions will first start to be felt in northern parts of the Bega Valley, and in southern parts late Saturday and into Sunday.
Local fire officials and NSW Police have some very clear and stark advice.
They will not be engaging in active firefighting, their focus will be on saving lives, including their own.
For that reason people in the following locations are being asked to leave now - people still at Bermagui and north of Mogareeka, communities north west of Bega - places like Bemboka, Brogo, Coopers Gully, Angledale. There is a significant risk to people still in these areas.
It is also strongly recommended that the follow communities consider leaving now - Tathra, Kalaru, and communities to the south and west of Eden - places like Wonboyn, Kiah, and Towamba.
Please don't put our emergency services and your loved ones at risk - leave now, make yourself and your community safe while roads are open and conditions allow you to travel.
It is a very real possibility that communications and power will be lost, roads will be closed, and emergency services pulled from the field for their own safety.
You could be very isolated and on your own - for an extended period of time. Now is the time to leave.
People should head towards Bega Showground and Club Sapphire in Merimbula.
An evacuation centre is also being established at the Eden Fishermen's Club.
Contingencies are in place as these places fill and reach capacity.
If your intention was to move to a Neighbourhood Safer Place - given the forecast conditions these places are no longer considered safer.
Come together as a community, please don't stretch our resources, come together at Bega and Merimbula and we will face this together, with the wagons circled around us.
