Key events
An interesting aspect of the heatwave is highlighted by a report in the Financial Review this morning about how record demand for power on the grid is being eased by rooftop solar.
The article says that demand in the national electricity market reached its highest-ever level at around 4pm on Wednesday with the nation drawing 38.9 gigawatts.
That beat a previous record set in December 2024, the article says.
While in the past that might have placed strain on the grid, rooftop solar came to the rescue with around 12GW of power, making up almost 30% of the demand.
All renewables sources together – so wind power and hydro – met 67% of demand.
So although that’s good news, because there is still not enough battery storage, by the time the sun went down most of the nation’s demand was met by coal and gas.
At the Seymour disaster relief centre in Victoria, the black summer bushfires are still a nightmarish memory for people seeking shelter.
Cait Kelly went along to speak to some of the people taking shelter.
“We wanted to pack up what was precious,” one says. “We’ve got photos and documents, some of my needlework that is framed, but what do you take when you have a house full of stuff you want to keep? … We just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope.”
Hume Highway closed and regional trains cancelled amid Victorian bushfires
Victoria’s Hume Highway was closed last night and regional trains were cancelled as firefighters from at least two states fought bushfires in the worst heatwave to descend on Australia since 2019-20.
As Melbourne prepared for a forecast of 41C today the acting premier, Ben Carroll, described Victoria as “one of the most bushfire-prone areas in the world”.
“There is also the real risk of heat-related illness throughout the state tomorrow.”
The state health department urged Victorians “to be prepared – stay hydrated, stay indoors as much as possible and make sure you check-in on loved ones”.
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Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then Nick Visser will pick up the news thread.
Firefighters are preparing for catastrophic conditions across many parts of Victoria today after a week of scorching temperatures. The entire state is under a total fire ban and parks and camping grounds are closed. There are also extreme fire danger ratings for much of South Australia and the New South Wales Riverina. We have more coming up.
At the other end of the continent, the BoM estimates about a 50/50 chance of a tropical cyclone crossing the coast in Queensland this weekend. More on that too, soon.
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