Heavy rain and storms have in recent days swept across New South Wales (NSW) state, which bore the brunt of a crisis that engulfed several states and territories at its peak. The Bureau of Meteorology in January said rains sufficient enough to extinguish the fires was unlikely until at least March. In neighbouring Victoria state, firefighters were battling around 20 blazes on Tuesday - down from a peak of 60. Heavy rain was also forecast in Victoria for coming days, although officials expect it to dampen, rather than extinguish, many of the fires. Nearly 60,000 households across NSW remained without electricity on Tuesday as flash flooding bought down powerlines and trees.

Source: Otago Daily Times February 11, 2020 01:07 UTC