“It’s amazing what the smell of the rain can do to people’s spirits,” Ben Shields, the mayor of the inland city of Dubbo, said. Almost 400 millimetres (15.8 inches) of rain fell in the Sydney area and surrounding areas. The NSW Rural Fire Service’s Sydney headquarters has been reconfigured to respond to floods and storm damage because of the rapid shift in the weather threat. The weekend rain extinguished some of the worst bushfires in NSW, including the Gospers Mountain ‘megafire’ in the Blue Mountains and the Currawon blaze on the south coast. “Some of the driest parts of Queensland have received a drenching, which will help pasture growth,” Ziebell said.

Source: National Post February 10, 2020 17:42 UTC