Weather 'merry-go-round' poses new risks for fire-ravaged Australia Issued on:
Sydney (AFP)
A "merry-go-round" of extreme weather was hampering efforts by firefighters in Australia to tackle unprecedented bushfires that have killed at least 29 people and devastated vast swathes of the country.
Parts of the country welcomed heavy rainfall overnight, but authorities warned Tuesday that storms were bringing added complications, and the fire-danger risk could be elevated in the coming days.
"It has been a merry-go-round of weather over the last few days," the Bureau of Meteorology's Kevin Parkin said.
"We have gone from fires and storms and floods, and giant hail -- the size of limes... producing widespread damage -- to fire danger escalating on our doorstep," the senior meteorologist added.
The country has suffered a collision of extreme climate events in the past week, with storms, lightning, thunder and hail battering areas in the fire-hit east.
The bushfire season has been made worse by climate change, experts say.
Victoria state experienced bursts of intense rain over the past 48 hours that helped to contain long-running blazes in some areas, but landslides, fallen trees and lightning strikes have hampered recovery efforts.
The temperature in Victoria is set to climb into the mid-30 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) range on Wednesday amid fierce winds, prompting extreme weather warnings in the western parts of the state, where authorities say "new start" fires will be difficult to contain.
"New starts in unprepared communities are the biggest risk," Victoria Country Fire Authority chief officer Steve Warrington told media.
"If communities are not prepared for fire -- whether they live or die, whether their property is saved or not saved -- is very much dependent on decisions people make right now."
A change is expected to bring more rain to the state late Wednesday.
Further north in New South Wales state, heavy rains have also been welcomed in some areas but in others it has left fire-ravaged areas too damp to undertake preventative controlled burns.
Authorities there are bracing for elevated fire danger on Thursday, when temperatures in parts of the state will tip above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
© 2020 AFP
Issued on: 20/01/2020 -
This handout photo taken on January 17, 2020 and received on January 20 courtesy of Marcia Macmillan shows a child running towards a dust storm in Mullengudgery in New South Wales. - Dust storms hit many parts of Australia's western New South Wales as a prolonged drought continues. (Photo by Handout / Courtesy of Marcia Macmillan / AFP) / AFP - HANDOUT
Text by:NEWS WIRES
Dust storms, hail and flash floods have battered beleaguered Australian cities in recent days, extreme weather that has diminished the threat from scores of wildfires that continue to blaze across the country’s southeast.
A hail storm in the national capital Canberra on Monday damaged public buildings, businesses, homes and cars, cut power to some suburbs, brought down trees, caused flash flooding and injured two people, emergency services officials said.
To the west, a 300-kilometer (186-mile) wide cloud of red dust was carried by wind gusts up to 107 kilometers (66 miles) per hour and descended on the drought-stricken towns of Dubbo, Broken Hill, Nyngan and Parkes, local media reported. Much of the dust is top soil from New South Wales state farms.
Incredible images captured from our contributor Jason Davies of the dust storm that impacted Parkes NSW Australia. Media licensing via SWA. See Jason's Gallery and Video at https://t.co/Q5NddbiPaZ #duststorm pic.twitter.com/8aTnFON5om— Severe Weather Aus (@SevereWeatherAU) January 19, 2020“It’s part and parcel of this record drought we’ve got at the moment,” Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields told Nine Network television.
Hail struck Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, on Sunday and more hail storms are forecast to return. The city has been choked by smoke from distant wildfires in Victoria state in recent weeks.
FIRST FIRES, NOW ICE: Severe storms lash parts of Australia, bringing golf ball-sized hail. https://t.co/0jmjbKmRnz pic.twitter.com/TbbkTZbJmg— ABC News (@ABC) January 20, 2020
Unusually intense storms over the weekend caused flash flooding in the cities of Brisbane and Gold Coast in Queensland state just north of New South Wales, where most of the wildfire destruction has occurred.
The fires have claimed at least 28 lives since September, destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 10.4 million hectares (25.7 million acres). The area burned is larger than the U.S. state of Indiana.
Widespread recent rainfall in New South Wales and Victoria have helped but have not extinguished major fires in Australia’s two most populous states.
Authorities have warned the fire danger will escalate this week in both states with rising temperatures and drier conditions.
(AP)
Huge bush fires have been destroying parts of Australia for weeks, and many areas are desperate for rain.
With promises of storms, some thought that they’d finally be getting some well-needed showers. Along with the severe thunderstorms that were predicted on Sunday night, Australians in New South Wales were brought huge dust storms.
The winds produced by the thunderstorms whipped up dry dust so intensely that some towns went dark in the middle of the day.
People are sharing pictures and videos of the storms on Twitter, and many of the images look practically apocalyptic.
One person tweeted, “When the bureau forecasts rain and this arrives... AGAIN! #fudust #sickofcleaning #whenwillwegetrain”. Luckily, the thick dust clouds have in some areas finally given way to rain, although it’s partly come along with hailstones.
Threatened species even more at risk due to Australia's bushfires
Issued on: 20/01/2020
An injured koala sits at the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, at the Wildlife Emergency Response Centre in Parndana, Kangaroo Island, Australia January 19, 2020. © REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Text by:NEWS WIRES
Australia's bushfires have burned more than half the known habitat of 100 threatened plants and animals, including 32 critically endangered species, the government said Monday.
Wildlife experts worry that more than a billion animals have perished in the unprecedented wave of bushfires that have ravaged eastern and southern Australia for months.
Twenty-eight people died in the blazes, which have swept through an area larger than Portugal.
Officials say it will take weeks to assess the exact toll as many fire grounds remain too dangerous to inspect.
But the government's Department of the Environment and Energy on Monday issued a preliminary list of threatened species of plants, animals and insects which have seen more than 10 percent of their known habitat affected.
More than 80 percent of the known or likely habitats of 49 species has fallen within fire zones, while another 65 species have seen 50-80 percent of their distribution areas affected.
Sally Box, the department's Threatened Species Commissioner, said the survey results were just a first step in understanding the potential impact of the bushfires on Australia's wildlife.
“Some species are more vulnerable to fire than others and some areas were more severely burnt than others, so further analysis will be needed before we can fully assess the impact of the fires on the ground,” she said.
The threatened species in the path of the fires included 272 plant, 16 mammal, 14 frog, nine bird, seven reptile, four insect, four fish and one spider species, the department said.
Of the 32 critically endangered species impacted by the fires, most were plants though they also included frogs, turtles and three types of bird.
(AFP)
Storms, flash floods douse parts of bushfire-stricken Australia
Issued on: 18/01/2020
Text by: NEWS WIRES
Parts of Australia's east coast were hit by severe storms on Saturday, dousing some of the bushfires that have devastated the region for months but causing road closures and flash flooding.
Fears of smoke from the fires disrupting the Australian Open tennis receded in Melbourne, where the main tournament was due to start on Monday.
Despite the heavy rain, authorities were still battling nearly 100 blazes - part of the bushfires that have killed 29 people since September, destroyed more than 2,500 homes and scorched an area nearly one-third the size of Germany.
Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, three of the states most hit by drought and bushfires, are now dealing with rain bucketing down in several areas.
Major highways were closed in Queensland on Saturday, with the state getting some of the heaviest rain Australia has seen for months, while power was cut in parts of New South Wales after a stormy night.
"Heavy, intense rainfall has eased, but showers and thunderstorms still possible through the weekend," the Bureau of Meteorology in Queensland said on Twitter on Saturday.
"Take care on the roads - if it's flooded, forget it."
Parts of Queensland's south saw triple the monthly rainfall overnight. No major damage has been reported, although some residential areas were flooded and many of the state's parks and tourist attractions were closed.
New South Wales fire services welcomed the rain, which they said on Twitter would help to control the 75 fires burning in the state, of which 25 are yet to be contained. But, they also said that some firegrounds have not seen any rain yet.
More benign storms were forecast for Victoria over the weekend, which has been hit this week already by severe storms and unhealthy smoke from the bushfires.
Skies were clear in Melbourne, however, for the final round of qualifying for the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam, and Victoria's Environmental Protection rated the air quality as "good", after an earlier forecast of unhealthy air for the weekend.
There were still more than a dozen fires burning in Victoria on Saturday, with firefighters battling to contain a big blaze in the state's mountain region, fifteen times the size of Manhattan.
Victoria's emergency service also issued an evacuation warning due to a bushfire on Saturday for French Island, the state's largest coastal island with a small population of just above 100 people.
(REUTERS)
Bushland is seen burnt by fire as rain pools in large puddles at Bilpin, in the Blue Mountains, Australia,
January 17, 2020. © AAP Image, Dan Himbrechts, Reuters
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