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Wild weather is sweeping across the country as Sydney and Western Australia swelter, bushfires rage in Victoria and parts of Queensland face possible flash flooding.
Residents have returned home after a sudden bushfire evacuation in Western Victoria, while another out-of-control blaze in a popular national park is likely to burn for weeks.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling three uncontrolled bushfires, one at Dimboola and Wail near the South Australian border and two in the Grampians National Park.
The Dimboola fire was sparked by dry lightning at Little Desert National Park on Monday and has grown to more than 65,000 hectares.
Residents were told to evacuate as the fire reached the outskirts of town but some at Dimboola District Hospital and the town’s aged care facility didn’t get out in time.
About 190 people and their pets sought refuge at a makeshift relief centre in Horsham, with 27 staying overnight.
The fire was downgraded to watch and act on Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m incredibly thankful that no lives have been lost from this fire, and we have no reports of injuries either,” Emergency Management commissioner Rick Nugent told reporters at the State Control Centre in Melbourne.
Popular wedding and conference centre Little Desert Nature Lodge was destroyed in the blaze
“The lodge just exploded, it’s totally gone,” Hindmarsh Shire Council mayor Ron Ismay told AAP.
“It’s very sad, it was a great venue for people of the area.”
Mr Nugent confirmed a farmhouse west of Dimboola was lost and another near a river may have been damaged.
Little Desert National Park and Wail State Forest remain closed and the rail line between Victoria and SA has been suspended.
A second emergency warning issued for Strachans, Victoria Point and Victoria Valley in the south western part of Grampians National Park has been downgraded to watch and act.
Hours later, watch and act alerts were issued for a blaze at the Wallaby Rocks Road area near Zumsteins in the park’s north affecting Brimpaen, Laharum, Wartook, Cranage, Zumsteins and Glenisla Crossing.
The fires are in the remote areas not scorched by fires earlier this summer.
Heatwaves and weather warnings
NSW bore the brunt of the same pool of very hot air that sent temperatures in parts of South Australia and Victoria into the 40s on Monday.
Most of the state, including Sydney and some of its western suburbs, recorded temperatures in the high 30s or low 40s on Tuesday. Sydney recorded a high of 43 degrees while Penrith, Bankstown and Badgerys Creek also topped 40 degrees.
Temperatures dropped quickly in the evening due to a severe storm moving up from the South Coast.
A severe thunderstorm warning is in place for Gosford, Sydney, Penrith, Parramatta, Woy Woy and Kulnura.
Winds began sweeping through Sydney’s CBD around 3pm while hailstones fell in north Sydney just before 4pm.
Parts of north Queensland are also expected to be hammered by rain on Tuesday resulting in the highest totals of the summer season.
Severe weather warnings were issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for parts of the North Tropical Coast and Herbert and Lower Burdekin regions.
Emergency services have advised people to park cars under cover away from trees, close doors and windows, keep asthma medications close by and charge mobile phones and power banks in case the power goes out.
Rainfall totals between 100mm-200mm are forecast between Gordonvale south of Cairns and Rollingstone, north of Townsville, with some isolated areas set to be saturated by nearly 300mm of rain.
Large parts of Queensland, including the northwest, central west and channel country, reached temperatures in the low-mid 40s on Tuesday.
Some towns in the WA’s Pilbara, Gascoyne and north interior regions reached 46C on Tuesday.
The NT interior also had a sweaty Tuesday, including in Alice Springs where temperatures soared to 43C.
