Southeast Australia is being hit by a heatwave that intensified further on Monday, raising the risk of bushfires and prompting Australian authorities to issue fire bans across much of Victoria state, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Australia is in the midst of a high-risk bushfire season and last week firefighters battled a major blaze that swept through Victoria's Grampians National Park in Victoria, destroying homes and farmland.
Forecasters have warned that temperatures could reach 45 degrees Celsius in parts of the second most populous state today. The mercury in the state's largest city, Melbourne, is expected to reach 38 degrees.
The heat has prompted a total fire ban in three cities in Victoria, where authorities have declared the fire danger level to "extreme" - the second highest level of danger. Temperatures in the state are expected to reach their highest point today.
For the Australian states of Western Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania, meteorologists have also issued heatwave warnings today.
Australia's last few fire seasons have been calmer than the disastrous "black summer" of the major forest fires in 2019-2020, which destroyed an area the size of Turkey, claiming 33 lives and killing billions of animals.