webfact Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 Thunderstorms sweep across Australia's bushfire-ravaged east coast By Lidia Kelly FILE PHOTO: A destroyed storage facility is seen in front of the remaining calves of dairy farmer Tim Salway in his farm in Wandella, near the town of Cobargo, Australia January 13, 2020. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Thunderstorms and heavy rain swept across parts of Australia's east coast on Thursday, bringing hope that some of the fierce bushfires razing the country will be extinguished - or at least slowed. Officials warned, however, that short, intense thunderstorms could lead to flash flooding, while lightning brought the risk of new fires being ignited. "We're expecting unsettled weather for the next four or five days or so at least," Jake Phillips, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. "The rainfall in some areas might be useful and in other spots it might only be a millimetre or two." "There are risks associated with it, so it's not always necessarily a great thing, particularly if we get the rainfall really quickly. What we really need is soaking, steady rain." Australia has been battling its worst bushfire season on record since September, with fires killing 29 people and millions of animals, and destroying more than 2,500 homes while razing bushland across an area the size of Bulgaria. There were still 85 fires burning across the state of New South Wales on Thursday, with 30 of them yet to be contained, while 19 fires were alight in Victoria, according to fire authorities. The wet weather brought some respite from the smoke haze that has plagued Australia's major cities for weeks and has been tracked by NASA circumnavigating the globe. Still, Canberra and Melbourne ranked among the top 30 most polluted major cities worldwide. Fire and weather officials have also warned the current cool and wet weather change will only be a temporary relief, with the hot weather forecast to return in coming weeks. Following are some highlights of what is happening in the bushfire crisis: - Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham was scheduled to meet with industry leaders on Thursday to discuss a response to the crisis. - Emergency responders in Victoria have dealt with nearly 600 cases of falling trees, flash flooding and other damage in the past 24 hours. - Queensland officials issued a warning on Thursday about dust haze in the south of the state. - Australia's Wollemi Pines, giant prehistoric trees that were thought to be extinct until 1994, were specially protected by firefighters as blazes swept through their secret location in a NSW national park. - Australia's conservative government has softened its rhetoric on climate change amid the crisis, acknowledging this week that changes are real and the country needs a strategy of "adaptation" and "resilience". - Tempers flared at the Australian Open qualifying matches on Wednesday as players battled through another day of smoky air at the first tennis Grand Slam of the year. (Reporting by Lidia Kelly; editing by Jane Wardell) -- © Copyright Reuters 2020-01-16 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post mogandave Posted January 16, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 16, 2020 Nice to have some good news for a change. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven100 Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 The widespread rain will be a welcome relief to farmers across NSW & Victoria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tug Posted January 16, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 16, 2020 Wonderful news hope it’s enough to turn the corner on this tragedy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorG Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 Saw a short clip of an 18 month old country boy experiencing rain for the first time. Look on his face was priceless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Henry Posted January 16, 2020 Share Posted January 16, 2020 Bad news rain not in fire zones and little in ag areas. Lets keep praying and hoping. Flooding and house damage wide spread in metro areas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phetphet Posted January 17, 2020 Share Posted January 17, 2020 Hope they get a lot more steady, soaking rain as the article mentions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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