Rain brings some relief from flames
Heavy rains across eastern Australia have brought relief to exhausted firefighters and farmers.
‘‘With more rain forecast, it is good news,’’ said New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) deputy commissioner Rob Rogers. ‘‘It won’t put out all of the fires but it will slow them down.’’
Across many parts of NSW and southern Queensland, where farmers have been battling severe drought, there was joy as creeks flowed again.
Farming organisations said some drought-hit farmers would be able to plant their first winter crops in years.
As recently as Wednesday, koalas were being rescued from bushfires. Everything changed yesterday as staff raced to save the animals from drowning.
‘‘This is incredible,’’ said Tim Faulkner, the director of a reptile park at Somersby, about 80 kilometres north of Sydney. ‘‘We haven’t seen flooding like this for over 15 years.’’
More showers over the weekend.
So far, 29 people have died in the blazes, more than 2200 homes have been destroyed, and an area larger than Scotland has been devastated.
NSW RFS spokesman Jonty Bruce said the wet weather had allowed firefighters to ‘‘clear their heads’’.
He warned, however, that the rain did not mean the fire season was over. ‘‘We are only halfway through summer. The risk is are expected likely to return. It’s just a matter of when and where.’’
Meanwhile, authorities have downgraded emergency warnings in Victoria’s alpine region despite difficult fire conditions.
More than a dozen blazes were still raging in the state yesterday morning, predominantly in the East Gippsland and northeastern alpine regions. Most are burning at watch and act level or lower.
Authorities said firefighters were able to slow the spread of a
NSW Rural Fire Service blaze near Mt Buffalo, but conditions could change at any time.
Incident management specialists from the United States and Canada arrived in Melbourne yesterday, ahead of being deployed to fires in the northeast and East Gippsland.
Also arriving from the US was the first of four large air tankers, which are set to be positioned strategically around the country over the next 50 days.
‘‘The risk is likely to return.’’ Jonty Bruce,