What a Difference a Week Makes

Those high temperatures I mentioned in my last post, accompanied by blustery winds, caused a grass fire to come bearing down on our small community in south-western Victoria. Thanks to all the resources thrown at it a major disaster was averted although some homes, stock, fences etc. were lost.

Our first glimpse of the fire was a cloud of smoke over the gum trees.

This is one of the aircraft that flew overhead: an Erickson Air Crane from Canada. There are currently two of these in Australia for our bush fire season, "Malcolm" and "Delilah".

A thunderstorm cell late on Saturday afternoon helped firefighters in the area contain and eventually put out the fire. The Country Fire Authority were still patrolling the area a few days later to control spot fires and flare ups.

Heavy rain is falling now and more is expected over the week-end. Flood warnings are in place for some areas of Victoria. The garden is getting a good soaking and water is going into the dam. Last check of the rain gauge showed over 10 mm had fallen.

This time last week we were sweltering in over 40 C temperatures. Today it is 20 C cooler. What a difference a week makes!