Silverton in state’s far west to see 45 degree heat
Today's high temperatures have left a small outback town in far west New South Wales, which welcomes as many as 100,000 visitors a year, a virtual ghost town.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 I'm here in Silverton, about 25 kilometres north of Broken Hill in far west New South
00:06 Wales, where it's expected to hit around 45 degrees Celsius later this afternoon.
00:11 And you can certainly tell that by the lack of people that are around.
00:15 This place is normally known as a bit of a tourism gem for the outback.
00:19 However, it is quite commonplace for temperatures to exceed 40 degrees, and during those periods
00:24 of time, this place becomes a bit of a virtual ghost town.
00:28 Indeed, looking around at some of the various businesses, they've all got closed signs up
00:33 for the day.
00:34 That includes the local bakery, the local photography studios, the galleries, which
00:38 are very commonplace here in Silverton, and the ones that are brave enough to go outside
00:43 can more commonly be found at the local pub just a few metres away from me.
00:49 As for the others, they've chosen to stay at home, stay under the air conditioner or
00:52 fan.
00:53 I spoke to one of them earlier today, local photography gallery owner Helen Murray, who
00:58 is also the chair of the local village committee, and she says that while at other times of
01:03 the year it is quite common to see plenty of people walking around Silverton, during
01:08 the summer months it's not quite the same place.
01:11 We don't see an awful lot of tourists at this time of the year, and look, that's a sensible
01:14 thing.
01:15 It's just so hot, and people who come from cooler areas, they don't handle our heat terribly
01:19 well most of them.
01:20 So, you know, we still have some businesses open, but a lot of them actually close for
01:24 a period of weeks at this time of the year, and they just either take a holiday themselves,
01:28 go on a cruise or whatever, or they do all the maintenance that they haven't been able
01:31 to do through the year.
01:32 While temperatures are expected to drop back down to around the early 30s later on in the
01:37 week, at least for the next few days residents in and around Silverton will be doing their
01:41 best to stay cool inside and out.
01:44 [BLANK_AUDIO]