Australia battles storms, floods and Wildfires
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Australia battles storms, floods and Wildfires*
January 20, 2007 09:35am
Article from: AAP
AUSTRALIANS are battling floods, bushfires, humidity and storm
conditions simultaneously as their state lives up to its reputation for
erratic weather.
Flash flooding is expected in the western, Wimmera and Mallee districts
while towns in the state's north and east pray they will receive enough
rain to ease bushfires which have been raging for more than 50 days.
Warnings of extreme fire danger have been extended to the central district.
Meanwhile high humidity has prompted a warning for fruit growers of
brown rot in the northern, central and northeastern areas.
Shops were flooded and motorists stranded when a storm triggered flash
flooding in Mildura last night and the Victorian weather bureau said
further flooding was expected today as heavy rains continued.
Elsewhere in the state, damaging winds of up to 100 km/h are expected in
the Alpine district with strong winds also expected later today across
coastal areas in the state's southeast including Port Phillip and
Western Port.
Weather forecaster Ward Rooney said he could not remember when the state
last reported such contrasting extreme weather conditions.
"It's a large bundle of warnings altogether, a combination you wouldn't
see too often," Mr Rooney said.
The weather is coming from the west with heavy rains moving slowly
across the state today and settling in overnight.
Firefighters are hoping it will help douse the bushfires which began in
early December.
But the 20mm-40mm forecast on the fire's northern slopes will fall far
short of the 100mm-150mm the Department of Sustainability and
Environment said was needed to "do a good job" on the blaze.
The southern areas of the one million hectare bushfire are expected to
receive less rain with forecasters predicting falls of just 5mm-10mm
over the next 12 hours.