Australia's east coast was battered by heavy rainstorms Saturday, after months of intense heat and devastating bushfires, causing flash flooding in parts and road closures.
Major highways had been closed in Queensland because the state was hit with some of the most torrential rain the country witnessed for months. Parts of New South Wales also experienced a power outage.
Bureau of Meteorology in Queensland tweeted Saturday that heavy, severe rainfall has eased, but showers and thunderstorms still feasible through the weekend, noting 100+ mm of rainfall in lots of locations.
100 mm of rain for many locations across #SEQld overnight/early this morning. Heavy, intense rainfall has eased, but showers and thunderstorms still possible through the weekend. Take care on the roads - if it's flooded, forget it.
Rainfall observations: https://t.co/aiVXf9eg8r pic.twitter.com/0BoIkXuALU — Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland (@BOM_Qld) January 18, 2020
Parts of the state also noticed triple the monthly rainfall overnight, making some of the state's parks and traveler attractions closed down. Some residential regions were flooded while no major damage has been reported. Despite the heavy downpour, officials are still battling more than a hundred blazes that have killed at least 20 people since September and destroyed more than 2,500 homes.
NASA also announced that smoke from the wildfires has also circumnavigated the globe. New South Wales fire services nevertheless welcomed the rain, which they said could help to control the fires burning in the state. However, around 25 are but to be contained. While rain won't extinguish all the fires, NSW Fire said the downpour would make a long way closer to containment.
Relief is here for a number of firefighters working across NSW. Although this rain won’t extinguish all fires, it will certainly go a long way towards containment. This footage was captured down at the Good Good Fire burning near Cooma. #nswrfs #nswfires pic.twitter.com/fxV9u2hN6K — NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) January 16, 2020
Where flames have subsided, scientists are starting to look for survivors of the estimated more than a billion wild animals that passed away in the blaze. Their goal is to find enough uncommon and endangered species to rebuild populations of creatures - including kangaroos, koalas, and wallabies.
"I do not assume we've seen a single event in Australia that destroyed habitats and pushed so many creatures to the very breaking point of extinction," Kingsley Dixon, an ecologist at Curtin University in Perth, instructed the Associated Press.
However, officials said professional firefighters did save the world's final prehistoric tree. They set up an irrigation system to maintain the so-called "dinosaur trees" wet and pumped water daily.
As remedy efforts continued, a number of fundraising activities have taken area to resource those who have misplaced their homes and the flora and fauna rescue efforts.
However, Greg Page, a member of popular Australian children's music group "The Wiggles," got hospitalized after suffering from a cardiac arrest while performing in a concert in Sydney.
The group nevertheless stated they might move in advance with their 2nd fundraising event on Saturday night. The band said Greg's most important challenge became that the show must go on. According to the group, they would still want to continue the concert for Greg while raising much-wanted funds for the victims of the bushfire.
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