From fires to floods, to threat of cyclone

A burnt out vehicle in the West Australian town, Toodyay. Photo / Getty Images

CANBERRA - Australia's wild weather ride continues, with floods in Queensland and New South Wales, extreme heat and bushfires in Western Australia and Tasmania, and a tropical cyclone forming off the Northern Territory.

And even as rain raised hopes of ending a decade-long drought, forecasters repeated warnings of a return to the fierce heat that last month pushed the fire danger to catastrophic levels across eastern states.

Total fire bans were declared over much of Western Australia yesterday - outlawing not only fires but even the movement of farm equipment across paddocks - as flames devoured land and buildings on Perth's northeastern fringe.

The bans covered Perth and the surrounding shires, the vast Kimberley, Pilbara and Gascoyne regions in the state's north, the coastal strip fanning out from Geraldton, north of Perth, and the farming expanses of the central wheatbelt.

With temperatures soaring into the high 30s yesterday, the fire danger was rated as severe to extreme.

Firefighters backed by five helicopters and two fire-bombing aircraft were late yesterday still battling a fire in the rugged hill country near the outer Perth suburb of Brigadoon, which started on Sunday afternoon.

Residents were evacuated as the fire, driven by hot, strong winds, raced through more than 200ha of bush and farmland, destroying several sheds before it was contained.

Three firefighters suffered smoke inhalation, and another injured a knee.

In Tasmania, bulldozers and helicopters joined the battle to control a fire raging in steep bushland on the island's north.

Reportedly lit by arsonists, the fire started near York Town on Sunday and has burned into Narawntapu National Park, driven by northwesterly winds towards the mining town of Beaconsfield.

No homes were under threat late yesterday, but residents of York Town, Beaconsfield, Beauty Pt and George Town were warned to prepare for possible spot fires from embers.

In northwestern New South Wales State Premier Kristina Keneally yesterday declared the area around Coonamble a disaster area as floodwaters failed to reach a peak that would have overwhelmed levees and inundated the now-isolated town.

More than 1000 people were evacuated as floodwaters rose on Sunday night.

The floods have also isolated about 400 farms and rural properties, some of which may which may be cut off for weeks.

Meanwhile, the cotton and wine town of Wee Waa to the northeast of Coonamble was late yesterday preparing for a similar fate as the Namoi River rose.

In Queensland, heavy rain threatened flooding in the central west after more than 100mm of rain was dumped on the Longreach area by storms since New Year's Eve.

The city of Longreach escaped inundation, but the Bureau of Meteorology has warned of possible floods later in the week at Windorah, southwest of Longreach, and has issued flood warnings for the Thomson, Barcoo and Landsborough rivers.

But for farmers, the rain has been welcome.

Although not yet broken, the drought that has gripped northern New South Wales for most of the new century has eased, with good prospects for summer crops and hopes for this year's main winter harvest.

In the far north, however, more trouble is brewing.

The meteorology centre said yesterday a low developing off the coast of the Northern Territory was expected to develop into a tropical cyclone this morning in the southern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, west of Darwin.

The cyclone is expected to bring heavy rain and gales with gusts of up to 100km/h.