Rain brings slight relief
Govt pledges $1.4b recovery fund to help recover from crisis
Firefighters warn the damp weather would not put out largest fires
Australia saw its first glimpse of respite after months of deadly fires this weekend when rain and cooler temperatures moved in.
Two more people are missing in remote parts of the Australian state of New South Wales and communities have been warned more dangerous blazes could yet hit this week.
The rain – though welcomed by those still battling out of control fires that have so far scorched an area roughly the size of Croatia – brought challenges for fire crews attempting to complete strategic burns in preparation for higher temperatures that will return in the coming days.
The Rural Fire Service warned the damp weather would not put out the largest and most dangerous fires before conditions deteriorated again.
Reserve troops fanned out across fire-ravaged regions in three Australian states yesterday, as the government pledged $1.4 billion over two years to help recover from the devastating months-long crisis.
Catastrophic bushfires have turned swathes of land into smouldering, blackened hellscapes and destroyed an area about the size of the island of Ireland, according to official figures, with authorities warning the disaster still has weeks or months to run.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose government has been criticised for its slow response to the emergency, pledged Aus$2 billion ($1.4 billion) of taxpayer money for a national recovery fund.
“It’s a long road ahead and we will be with these communities every step of the way as they rebuild,” Morrison said.
Firefighters joined by fresh teams from the US and Canada were taking advantage of rainy and cooler conditions to tackle out-of-control blazes ahead of rising temperatures forecast later this week.
In the biggest-ever call up of reserves, military teams were deployed across eastern Australia to help emergency services assess the damage, restore power and deliver supplies of food, water and fuel to cut-off communities.
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