Australians on both sides of the country have been warned to remain vigilant as floods and fires threatened their homes on Boxing Day.
A bushfire continued to rage about 200km south-east of Perth on Friday morning, although nearby residents were no longer being urged to leave their homes.
The risk alert was downgraded to “watch and act”, meaning Bannister, Wuraming and Boddington locals must monitor their surroundings and act quickly if the fire conditions changed and the situation worsened.
Increased humidity and consolidated containment lines had improved fire behaviour, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services said.
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However, the bushfire remained uncontrolled and uncontained, and wind changes were expected.
Dry, gusty winds and a Christmas heatwave fed the fire that was believed to have started at the Boddington goldmine.
“We did have temperatures in the high 30s to low 40s across much of the south-west land division,” Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury told ABC News.
“Unfortunately that, combined with dry, gusty, easterly winds, did really elevate that fire danger.
“It shouldn’t be quite as hot [on Friday] as it was yesterday but there will still be some challenging conditions for firefighters battling any ongoing blazes in the landscape.”
On the other side of the country, a monsoon trough has continued to bring showers, rain and thunderstorms to north-west Queensland and residents have been urged to remain alert for possible flooding.
A monsoon trough in the north-west has continued to move along the coast, bringing showers, rain and thunderstorms to many parts of the already-soaked state.
Residents in the adjacent Northern Territory areas are also bracing for intense rains and storms.
The extreme weather led to a partial crane collapse on the Gold Coast on Thursday as winds reached more than 80km/h.
Police made an emergency declaration but no one is believed to have been hurt in the incident.
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