Severe storms are expected to bring some relief in the coming days from bushfires but the heavy downpours could also carry the risk of landslides and water pollution, officials said. The shift to more humid and wet weather later on Wednesday will likely help control some of the 114 blazes burning across New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria states and potentially even extinguish some, but also bring new dangers. “This is a day that we are quite concerned about,” Kevin Parkyn, a senior meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, told reporters as he detailed a forecast of damaging winds, heavy rainfall and large hailstones for Melbourne and its surrounds. “Thunderstorms are a bit of a double-edged sword. While they can bring some much-needed rain, [the rain] can also come down in very fast, high quantities,” Parkyn said.

Source: Huffington Post January 16, 2020 01:18 UTC