Heavy rain brings relief, new danger

Australian authorities issued evacuation orders as heavy rain lashed Sydney and the east coast of the state of New South Wales (NSW) yesterday, bringing chaos to the country’s largest city while dousing bushfires that have raged since November.

Between 200 and 400 millimetres (7.9 to 15.8 inches) of rain drenched the Sydney area out to the Blue Mountains and farther south over the weekend, the Bureau of Meteorology said, which led to rivers flooding and forced more than 60 schools to shut yesterday.

The NSW State Emergency Service received over 2,700 calls for help overnight, with the number of calls since last Wednesday topping 10,000, SES spokesman Andrew Richards said.

The Bureau of Meteorology warned that heavy rain could lead to life-threatening flash flooding for the south coast of New South Wales and also said there could be wind gusts of more than 90 km per hour.

Thanks to the rain, the NSW Rural Fire Service on Sunday night declared that one of the state’s worst bushfires, Currawon on the south coast, was finally out. There were still 33 fires burning as of yesterday morning in the state, but they were all at the lowest warning level of “advice” and mostly in southeastern areas where the rains were headed. The horrific fire season has killed 33 people and an estimated 1 billion native animals.