‘Catastrophic’ Australian bushfires force evacuations and school closures | World News

Uncontrolled bushfires raged in the Australian state of Victoria on Thursday, forcing communities to evacuate and hundreds of schools to close.

The fire danger rating for tomorrow will be “catastrophic”, the highest level, and both fires pose a significant risk of loss of life and property, authorities said.

Two large bushfires burned near the towns of Longwood and Walwa as temperatures soared past 40C (104F) in parts of the state.

The bushfires come amid an intense summer heatwave in Australia’s south.

Meteorologists have said conditions are on par with 2019, when bushfires destroyed large swathes of southeastern Australia, killing 33 people in what became known as the Black Summer.

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Some 450 schools in Victoria are set to close on Friday and many regional train services will be cancelled.

The Longwood fire now covers more than 25,000 hectares (61,776 acres), while the Walwa fire is 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) and has created its own weather system, with a pyrocumulonimbus cloud causing lightning and thunder.

Residents in dozens of neighbouring towns have been told to evacuate.

“Tomorrow is a very, very dire bushfire day in the state of Victoria,” Country Fire Authority Chief Officer Jason Heffernan told a news conference.

The fires have destroyed at least two structures and are expected to spread further on Friday as the wind and heat pick up.

Total fire bans were issued in several districts on Thursday. A total fire ban will be imposed across the whole state on Friday.

In New Zealand, MetService, the nation’s weather provider, also warned of record warm temperatures over the weekend as the heatwave moves across the Tasman Sea.

It has issued heat alerts for parts of the eastern coast of New Zealand and the north of the South Island.