Disaster Alert: The Areas at Higher Risk of Flood, Fire

Communities across Australia are being warned to brace for damaging floods and fires as the severe weather season bears down on the continent. Persistent heat and more heavy rain over already sodden catchments are expected to test emergency management teams during spring and summer. The majority of the Australian landmass is more than twice as likely to experience hotter-than-average maximum temperatures over the next three months, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s long-range forecast. Minimum temperatures are even more likely to exceed historical averages, with large swathes of the nation three times as likely to swelter through hotter-than-average nights. That meant a greater risk of dangerous heatwaves, said the bureau’s general manager of environmental prediction Matt Collopy....