A severe heatwave sweeping across southeastern Australia fueled bushfires, forced hundreds of residents in rural towns to evacuate and shattered temperature records, with Melbourne logging its hottest day in nearly 17 years.
Temperatures in parts of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, climbed above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
In Victoria’s northwest Mallee region, the mercury soared to 48.9 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), setting a new state record, according to preliminary data from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology.
The heatwave, the most severe since the deadly 2009 Black Saturday bushfires that killed 173 people in Victoria, pushed fire danger levels to extreme across large parts of the state.
Many communities were still recovering from large bushfires earlier this month, also triggered by a severe heatwave.
