Tweet Facebook Mail Hundreds of Australians are waiting to return home from New Caledonia after riots broke out in the French Pacific territory last week. Tylah Carre, one of at least 300 Australians who have been stranded in the capital Noumea, arrived last Sunday for a two-day work trip before the situation escalated. Many tourists are one step closer to touching down on home soil after the federal government announced this morning it had received the green light to send two evacuation flights .
READ MORE: Ocean water is rushing kilometres underneath the 'Doomsday Glacier' A local street is blocked off on the way to Tylah Carre's accommodation in Noumea. (Supplied) People in the area have been under a curfew and obtaining basic supplies has been a challenge. Carre told 9News.
com.au when the riots started to intensify, the situation was "pretty scary". "The staff at the hotel we're in barricaded the windows in case they came into the tourist area," Carre said.
READ MORE: Citizen's arrest after woman allegedly stabbed by stranger in Melbourne Smoke rises during protests in Noumea, New Caledonia on Wednesday last week. (AP Photo/Nicolas Job) "Locals ripped up some fencing to barricade the road towards the tourist area. "We could hear all the gunfire and bombs going off.
One night we left our hotel windows open and in the morning could smell the smoke from the bombs. "Most of the hotel staff and shop owners left immediately to get home to their families, some stayed which.
