Heatwave brings fires, blackouts, health dangers as Adelaide becomes world's hottest city

Updated

Fire authorities in Victoria and South Australia have issued warnings over several out-of-control bushfires as heatwave conditions persist in south-eastern Australia.

The states are bearing the brunt of near-record heat, while the ACT is also weathering scorching temperatures.

Victorian fire authorities have issued warnings over two out-of-control bushfires burning near the Grampians National Park and one in the Big Desert National Park near Telopea Downs.

Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed along with eight water-bombing planes to the Grampians fires, while residents have been advised to leave their homes immediately.

An emergency warning has also been issued for an out-of-control fire burning in Bangor in SA's Southern Flinders Ranges near Port Germein Gorge, while a fire at Kiama has broken containment lines and is threatening a house.

Adelaide was confirmed as the hottest city in the world soon after midday and its temperature peaked at 44.2C this afternoon, short of the forecast 46C.

The record high of 46.1C was recorded during the January 1939 heatwave.

Melbourne is facing its longest run of 40C days since 1908, when there were five straight.

The temperature did not drop below 27.2C in the Victorian capital overnight and the mercury hit 43.9C at 3:14pm (AEDT).

Australian Open officials applied the extreme heat policy for the first time this week with temperatures consistently above 40C since Tuesday.

Canberra was experiencing another hot day after Wednesday's maximum of 40.2C nudged the January record set in 1968, falling shy by just 1.2 degrees.

Australia's capital hit 40.1C at 2:38pm, with 41C forecast for Friday.

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In Victoria, emergency warnings are in place for dozens of communities as more than 30 bushfires burn out of control.

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A large fire front in the northern Grampians is spreading rapidly towards Wartook Valley and Laharum and residents have been told they are in immediate danger.

On the South Australian border, the community of Telopea Downs is being warned of a 15,000-hectare fire, while elsewhere in the Mallee, the towns of Hopetoun and Yaapeet are still battling a cluster of fires.

Another fire is still threatening the community of Steiglitz in the Brisbane ranges, north of Geelong.

Near Trafalgar in Gippsland, a fast-moving bushfire is spotting ahead of its main front in the Embletons Road area.

Meanwhile, a woman is recovering in a central Victorian hospital after being struck by lightning.

Paramedics say the woman aged in her 30s was hit about 7:30pm (AEDT) last night at the Cairn Curran Reservoir, near Castlemaine.

Severe thunderstorms have moved across much of southern Victoria and duty forecaster Michael Efron says lightning strikes could spark more bushfires.

"Certainly with all these thunderstorms we could see more fires started with quite a lot of lightning around with those storms," he said.

Thousands of Victorians remain without power as the grid struggles to cope.

Adelaide the hottest city on Earth

Much of the fire danger is centred on South Australia's west coast, where crews are being pushed to the limit as they continue to battle several blazes.

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Five firefighting aircraft from Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have flown in to help crews on the ground and the CFS is expected conditions to worsen on Friday.

"We've known and have been looking at Friday of this week as probably our most dangerous day because it's the day of the change," CFS spokesman Greg Nettleton said.

"The issue tomorrow is wind because that causes fires to spread more rapidly."

Four fires burning in the Yumbarra Conservation Park, 30 kilometres north of Ceduna, are the biggest concern.

A total fire ban remains in place.

Senior climatologist Darren Ray agrees a cool change expected on Friday might come later than originally forecast.

"There's actually some indications now that the change might be a little bit slower than we anticipated a day or two ago," he said.

"It'll be a hot day to start with on Friday and what the temperature reaches on Friday will depend highly on how quickly that change pushes through."

The heatwave took its toll on a colony of flying foxes, with about 90 found dead on the ground in Adelaide's Botanic Park.

Blackouts as heat puts strain on electrical grids

The SA Government has confirmed power could be switched off to suburbs to prevent a system meltdown as air-conditioners kick into overdrive.

Joe Adamo from the Australian Energy Market Operator says load-shedding has not occurred yet, but high temperatures in Victoria could further stress the system.

"It's a national grid. It's interconnected. There's a lot of sharing that goes on and that's the way the market operates," he said.

"Consecutive days of extreme weather like we're seeing is putting a lot of strain on the network.

"The last time we saw demand this high was back in 2009."

Premier Jay Weatherill said efforts would be made to restrict outages to 30 minutes.

SA Health says a total of 163 people have needed treatment in Adelaide hospitals because of the heatwave.

Chief Public Health Officer Dr Stephen Christley says so far there have been no fatalities, but a heat-related death is likely.

"If you look at what history tells us and the fact there are vulnerable people in our community, there's an inevitability that some people, particularly the frail, heat will have contributed to the fact that they will die during this period of time," he said.

Topics: climate-change, electricity-energy-and-utilities, health, weather, environmental-impact, australia, sa, vic, act, adelaide-5000, melbourne-3000

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