Victorians are bracing for the worst fire conditions in four years after at least six houses and about 20,000 hectares were burnt over the past five days.
The temperature in Melbourne is expected to peak at 38 degrees on Thursday afternoon,before a cool change sweeps in to “whip up the bay”.
Communities ravaged by bushfire last week have been urged to prepare for another day of extreme fire danger and potential storms.
A large new study has found higher temperatures are linked with spikes in ambulance callouts.
They’re in people’s clothes,covering train stations and even at the airport to greet Swifties – but the insect invasion won’t last.
About 20 properties are reported to have been wiped out by the blaze,but on Wednesday afternoon many residents of Pomonal were still in the dark about whether their homes had survived.
A dairy farmer is dead,while Phillip Island and its surrounding communities remain without electricity after wild storms battered Victoria on Tuesday.
Victorian Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio described it as “one of the largest outage events in the state’s history” after a storms flattened transmission towers and knocked out the state’s largest power station.
Stawell resident Peter Greenberger said he had spoken to friends from Pomonal on Tuesday evening,and it seemed likely a number of families had lost their homes.
Damaging winds,heavy rain and golf ball-sized hail have lashed parts of Melbourne.
A catastrophic fire danger warning has been issued and very hot and windy conditions have been forecast for most of Victoria,putting the state’s emergency workers on high alert.