Floods and fire in Australia's weather crisis

Heavy rain lashed parts of the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland on Saturday causing flash floods, while wildfires continue to burn in other parts of the country.

In the south eastern parts of Queensland, up to 300 millimetres of rain fell near the Gold Coast cutting major highways and closing theme parks, local media reported.

Authorities rescued several people, according to local media.

The Bureau of Meteorology's Peter Markworth said the rains were a "one in a hundred years" event.

"We saw some one in a hundred-year threshold being met over southeast Queensland (state) but at this stage that maybe a few locations which saw the highest daily rainfall, but it's not very widespread," Markworth said.

Parts of drought-stricken New South Wales were also drenched, with the town of Murwillumbah receiving 173 millimetres of rain, causing minor flooding.

Meanwhile, wildfires continue to burn in the state of Victoria with an emergency warning issue for a fire burning at French Island.

The fires have claimed at least 28 lives since September, destroyed more than 2,600 homes and razed more than 10.3 million hectares (25.5 million acres), mostly in the state of New South Wales.