Fires Contained in Hard-hit Australia State, but Now Floods Threaten

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Fires contained in hard-hit Australia state, but now floods threaten:

All the blazes in Australia's hard-hit state of New South Wales have been brought under control, firefighters said on Thursday, signalling the end of a "black summer" that claimed 33 lives nationwide.

But heavy rains that helped extinguish the blazes that have raged along the east coast since September are causing flash floods in parts of the state, posing new problems for some residents.

"Not all fires are out, there's still some fire activity in the far south of the state but all fires are contained so we can really focus on helping people rebuild," the state's fire service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said on Twitter.

[...] Bushfires scorched more than 10 million hectares in the country's east and south, killing at least 33 people and an estimated one billion animals, while destroying more than 2,500 homes.

[...] Days of recent rainfall have extinguished the largest fires and brought those that remain under control.

In the Australian Capital Territory around Canberra firefighters are still trying to bring one blaze under control, but it was not said to be threatening.

Attention has now turned to tackling flash flooding expected in the coming days following the heaviest rains in 30 years.

On Thursday dams near Sydney overflowed after days of torrential rain, a spectacular reversal from months of drought. The Nepean dam was just a third full less than a week ago, but on Thursday video footage showing water cascading over the dam wall. Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters in recent days.

More Information:

Dams overflow as Australia braces for more floods:

Original Submission #1"f Original Submission #2"f

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.