Australia is bracing for two extremes over the next week with parts of the west facing days of extreme fire danger and a cyclone and flood watch issued for parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory.
Residents who evacuated their homes ahead of an out-of-control bushfire near Boddington, 130km south-east of Perth, were still unable to return home on Saturday, Western Australian fire authorities said.
The fire has burned through more than 4,000 hectares and caused significant damage to the Newmont Boddington goldmine. Many residents were forced to spend Christmas night in an evacuation centre.
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It was downgraded to a watch and act level on Saturday morning, but WA’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said there was still a possible threat to lives and homes.
“It is not safe to return due to unstable fire and weather conditions,” DFES said.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Jonathan How said a cool change would help to ease the fire danger but there were still eight fires burning.
The milder conditions across the rest of the state will persist through Sunday but more heat is on its way, with large parts of WA expected to see temperatures remain above 30C.
Meanwhile, large parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory are expecting monsoonal rain, with the possibility of thunderstorms and floods.
“We have seen the monsoon trough develop across northern Australia and with that we are expecting very widespread monsoonal rain and storms,” How said.
The flood watch currently sits over “a very large area”, from the Mackay coast up towards Townsville, and then inland all the way to the west and south-west of Queensland, through to the NT into Tennant Creek.
North-west Queensland, particularly around the Gulf Coast, is expected to be hit with between 300 to 500 millimetres of rain – enough to cut off roads, isolate communities and halt travel.
A flood warning has also been issued for areas between Townsville and Cairns, with forecast rainfall of 50 to 100 millimetres, increasing to 150 millimetres early next week.
Most of the rest of the country is expected to have warm weather for the next few days, with temperatures in the mid to high 30s for Adelaide, Melbourne and Canberra. Hobart will be a little cooler, staying in the low 20s.
