Victorian towns evacuated as bushfires rage, heatwave spreads across Aus

Towns in Victoria have been evacuated and thousands remain without power as out-of-control bushfires and a blistering heatwave wreak havoc across Australia’s south.

Tuesday’s extreme heat broke records across the country, marking the hottest January day ever for towns in South Australia and NSW, which reported temperatures just shy of 50C.

Renmark in SA recorded a top of 49.6C, while Fowlers Gap in NSW was a close second with 49.1C.

In Victoria, Walpeup and Hopetoun recorded a scorching 48.9C – the hottest day ever recorded in the state – followed by Mildura, which hit a maximum of 48.8C.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Angus Hines said “far too many” records were smashed across multiple states.

“(The) temperature recorded equally at (Hopetoun and Walpeup) is the all-time highest temperature ever recorded in Victoria,” he said.

“That’s a very significant record, highlighting just how extreme and severe the heat was across southern Australia yesterday.”

More than 27,000 residents were without power across Victoria’s west overnight, with crews working to restore electricity amid “challenging conditions”.

A CitiPower spokesman said the bushfires in the Otway region triggered an outage to nearly 3000 residents in Carlisle River, Lavers Hill, Johanna, Cape Otway, Beech Forrest and Gellibrand.

“Given the dangerous conditions associated with this active fire, we are unable to provide an estimated restoration time to customers at this stage and advise that it may be days until we can safely begin repairs,” they said.

Thousands remain without power on Wednesday morning.

Firefighters are focusing their efforts on the fire burning at Walwa at Victoria’s border, which is spreading further due to strong northerly winds.

Residents in dozens of towns have been ordered to leave their homes and thousands of properties are at risk as the fires grow and intensify.

Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief officer Jason Heffernen told Today that Tuesday was a tough day for those battling the blazes.

“It was a very challenging day for firefighters, and they did incredibly well to hold those fires where they did for as long as they did,” he said.

A watch and act warning is in place for the Berringama, Bucheen Creek, Bullioh, Cravensville, Koetong, Lucyvale, Nariel Gap, Shelley, Thowgla Upper and Thowsgla Valley regions, with residents told it is “not safe to return”.

Residents in the state’s Otway region have also been urged to take shelter immediately as it may be too deadly to leave.

The emergency warning is in place for Gellibrand, Barongarook, Barongarook West, Kawarren, Carlisle River, and Gerangamete.

“You are in danger and need to act immediately to survive,’ the Vic Emergency warning read.

“The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave. Leaving now would be deadly.”

Extreme fire danger warnings are in place for the North East and Wimmera districts driven by very hot and dry northerly winds, which could lead to intense fire danger on Wednesday afternoon.

Heatwave to persist despite cool change

While the sweltering temperatures began to dissipate in SA and Melbourne overnight, other regions of Victoria, NSW and Queensland will suffer through more days of extreme heat.

“A cool wind change did sweep across southern parts of Australia throughout the day yesterday,” Mr Hines said.

“The cool changed affected most southern parts of SA and Victoria, but the cool air didn’t penetrate northwards to the interior of each state, meaning many spots through northern SA and northern Victoria stayed very hot into the night last night.”

Melbourne residents can breathe a sigh of relief as cool southerly winds carry the heat away, with temperatures forecast to reach a maximum of 24C on Wednesday.

However, the cool change did little to subside the raging bushfires.

“The change did create erratic fire behaviour and difficult containment conditions across active bushfire areas,” Mr Hines said.

“In particular, the ongoing fire complex around the Otway Ranges on the southern coast of Victoria was affected.

“This pushed the fire in a new direction and started blowing smoke towards the Melbourne area.”

The severe to extreme conditions are forecast to persist in inland Victoria, with a severe heatwave warning in place for Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, East Gippsland, West and South Gippsland and North Central regions.

As the heat exits SA and central Victoria, the sweltering conditions are starting to spread into inland NSW.

Sydney will begin to feel the heat on Wednesday, with the mercury tipped to reach 29C by midday.

Mr Hines said the heat along western and southern NSW and southern Queensland may tip 8C to 15C above the January average.

“More records may tumble today, with the most likely area for this to occur being the Riverina, Central Tablelands and far west of NSW, as well as the far southwest of Queensland,” he said.

An extreme heatwave warning has been issued for the Snowy Mountains, South West Slopes and Upper Western regions, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid-to-high 40s west of the ranges until the end of the week.

Meanwhile, a severe heatwave warning has been set for the Northern Tablelands, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains, Central West Slopes and Plains, Riverina and Lower Western regions, with affected areas spanning Armidale, Albury, Broken Hill, Bourke, Dubbo, Deniliquin, Moree, Orange, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

“Severe heatwave conditions have eased over the Mid North Coast and Northern Rivers districts, however low intensity heatwave conditions will linger,” the Bureau of Meteorology website read.

Mr Hines said the heat would stick around for several more days, and may come close to previous record-breaking temperatures.

“Unfortunately, several more hot days are forecast this week, with Thursday and Friday also extremely warm over much of SA, northern Victoria, western and central NSW and southwest Queensland,” he said.

“While the peaks may not quite reach the record temperatures we’ve seen in the past few days, they won’t be far behind, with mid-40C temperatures common through inland areas of these states all week.”