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CANBERRA - Australia's eastern states are bracing for a heatwave that will place towns and massive areas of bush and farmland under extreme fire risk, strain power and water supplies and threaten human life.
Although Melbourne late yesterday had escaped a predicted 41C furnace, Victoria remains in the grip of what is predicted to be the worst heatwave in a century. And while temperatures along coastal areas of New South Wales and Queensland slipped back into the 20s, inland regions were baked by maximums in the 30s, with worse ahead.
In South Australia, Adelaide sweltered as thermometers hit 41C, ahead of two further days in the 40s and temperatures of more than 30C predicted to last until next week. Tasmania has also been scorched by 30C days that have turned much of the island's forests into tinder. Yesterday firefighters were battling 13 outbreaks.
In Melbourne, Victorian Premier John Brumby yesterday morning met fire, ambulance, medical and power chiefs to prepare for potential emergencies in a heatwave worse than anything the state has experienced since five days above 40C in 1908.
Melbourne's most recent heatwave was three over-40s days in 1959, and the city now faces the prospect from tomorrow of four consecutive days of similar heat. Beyond that, temperatures are forecast to remain above 30C into next week.
Power officials yesterday said that electricity supplies could cope - provided there are no new crises such as cuts caused by bushfires - but water could become an increasing problem. The city's dams are only about one-third full. Fire bans extend across much of the state as the threat of bushfires mounts. Schools may close if temperatures soar too high.
"It is going to be a very challenging week for the state and I think it would be wrong to underestimate the degree of challenge," Brumby said.
He said that Victorians needed to be vigilant for their neighbours, family and friends.
"People most at risk are people over 65 years, particularly those living alone without air-conditioning, infants, pregnant women and nursing mothers, people who are unwell, especially with heart disease or high blood pressure, and people on medications for mental illness."
In NSW, firefighters were yesterday battling 12 outbreaks, including a fire raging uncontrolled through Budawang National Park. By late yesterday the fire, sparked by lightning last week, had burned through more than 1300ha of bush. Over the Australia Day long weekend, NSW firefighters were also called to 18 residential fires, including two that killed an elderly woman and a 5-year-old.
