20210606 北美洲；美國；野火及旱災
- 2021.06.08
- (0606)[CNN]美國亞利桑那州發生兩起野火，燃燒範圍達數萬英畝居民被迫撤離
- 2 wildfires in Arizona force evacuations and burn tens of thousands of acres
(CNN)Two wildfires burning Sunday in the hills and mountains of eastern Arizona have scorched more than 60,000 acres and prompted evacuation orders for hundreds of people, officials said.One — the Telegraph Fire — has burned more than 34,300 acres in and near the southern edge of Tonto National Forest, some 60 miles east of Phoenix, since starting Friday afternoon, officials wrote on the national InciWeb wildfire information system.An evacuation has been ordered for residents in the area of Top-of-the-World, a community of about 250 people, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said Sunday morning.”If you choose to ignore this advisement, you must understand emergency services may not be able to assist you further,” the office said on Twitter.
The fire was burning a few miles south of Superior, a town of about 3,000 people. Residents there should be ready to evacuate, officials said.The other blaze — the Mescal Fire — has burned more than 25,900 acres in the Mescal Mountains roughly 120 miles east of Phoenix as of Sunday morning, according to InciWeb. The fire started early last week.On Saturday, that fire moved authorities to evacuate people on the east side of State Route 77 near El Capitan as well as the Soda Canyon area near San Carlos Lake, according to InciWeb.
El Capitan is an area with about 4,800 residents. It wasn’t immediately clear how many people or homes were evacuated.Part of the fire is on land of the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Evacuation orders included the area of San Carlos High School, according to the tribal emergency response commission; the school is on the reservation.No deaths or injuries have been reported in either fire, and the causes of both are under investigation.Winds and dry conditions — such as dry grass and shrubs, as well as pine in the higher elevations — have helped drive the fires, officials said.
CNN’s Hollie Silverman contributed to this report.
- (0604)[聯合報新聞網]美西七成區域拉乾旱警報 加州更出現44年來最嚴重旱象
美國西部近四分之三區域正深陷嚴重乾旱，嚴峻程度為美國乾旱監測局20年前開始記錄以來僅見。
彭博資訊報導，美國農業部氣象學家Brad Rippey表示，整個西部山區的降雨量稀少，導致迫切需要融雪與降雨的水庫缺水。嚴峻的乾旱意味發生野火的機率高，而農民難以灌溉作物。天氣預報頻道「 Weather Channel」說，加州最大水庫之一奧羅維爾湖（Lake Oroville）水位不斷下降，迫使當局撤走逾百艘船屋。
有別於美國東部，美西的水資源主要來自冬季降雨或高山融雪。根據美國國家環境資訊中心（NCEI），乾旱導致去年全美損失450億美元；今年情況更加惡化，少量的降雪迅速融化後便滲入地面，並未流進河川和水庫。
美國內政部資深顧問Elizabeth Klein說：「我們從未見到如此規模與嚴重的乾旱，這可能成為未來的常態。」她表示，加州正面臨1977年以來最嚴峻、也是歷來第三嚴重的乾旱。
