Entire towns have been razed by wildfires raging through southeastern Australia, burning people in their homes and cars in the deadliest blaze in the country's history.
The number of dead stand at 128, as of this post.
A grim toll that rose almost by the hour as officials reached further into the fire zone.
Searing temperatures and wind blasts created a firestorm that swept across a swath of the country's Victoria state, where at least 750 homes were destroyed and all of the victims died.
"Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said.
"It's an appalling tragedy for the nation."
If any of the deadly fires were deliberately lit, "There are no words to describe it other than mass murder," he said.
The skies rained ash and trees exploded in the inferno, witnesses said, as temperatures of up 117 F combined with blasting winds to create furnace-like conditions.
The town of Marysville and several hamlets in the Kinglake district, both about 50 miles north of Melbourne, are virtually destroyed.
At Marysville, a winter tourism town that was home to about 800 people, up to 90 percent of buildings were in ruins, witnesses said.
Police said two people died there.
Marysville is no more," Senior Constable Brian Cross said as he manned a checkpoint Sunday on a road leading into the town.
*****
I say it again, Damn!
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