01/18/2020 11:45
(Act. 18.01.2020 11:45)
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Australia, which has been hit by drought and huge fires for months, is now also struggling with other types of weather extremes. Heavy rain flooded several freeways and roads in the state of Queensland on Saturday morning. In some areas, according to the police, up to 33 centimeters of precipitation fell. The weather bureau warned of life-threatening spring tides.
On the gold coast south of Brisbane, two people had to be saved from the floods. In northern Queensland’s southern neighbor, New South Wales, rain also fell in northern areas, favoring the extinguishing of many of the 75 bushfires currently blazing in the state. However, 25 of the fires are still out of control, the New South Wales Fire Department, RFS, said. In the state of Victoria in southeast Australia, more than a dozen fires raged on Saturday, especially in the eastern region of East Gippsland and the Alpine region in the northeast.
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The Australian Open starts on Monday in Victoria’s capital Melbourne. The bad air had caused major problems for the tennis players in the qualifying round. The bushfires have caused air quality in the entire state to drop from “good” to “very bad”, the environmental protection agency said.
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Since the first fires of this fire season started in September, at least 28 people have died and more than 11.8 million hectares of land burned. According to rough estimates, more than a billion animals died.
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