Rainstorms douse bushfires across eastern Australia

Sydney, Jan 18 (AFP) Rain and thunderstorms doused long-burning bushfires across much of eastern Australia Saturday, but y also brought a new threat of flooding in some areas.

Major bushfires continued to r in regions of south and souast of country that have so far missed out on rain, including in wildlife-rich forests on Kangaroo Island off sourn coast.

fire service in New South Wales (NSW) state, country's most populous and hardest hit by crisis, said 75 fires continued to burn Saturday, down from well over 100 a few days earlier.

"Rain continues to fall across a number of fire grounds," state's rural fire service said, ding that "benign conditions" of rain and cooler temperatures were helping efforts to contain remaining blazes.

To rth, Queensland state was hit by severe storms overnight, causing some flash flooding and ro closures though deaths or injuries were reported.

Both states have suffered from one of longest droughts in modern Australian history and some areas saw more rain Friday and Saturday than h fallen in more than a dece.

Fires continued to burn out of control in sourn New South Wales and neighbouring Victoria state, but forecasters expected significant rainfall in those areas Sunday and Monday, raising hopes that some of those blazes could be brought under control as well.

unprecedented fires, fuelled by climate change and a years-long drought, have claimed 28 lives over past five months.

y have scorched massive tracts of forest and bushland in eastern and sourn Australia, decimated livestock on alrey barren farms and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

On Kangaroo Island, kwn as Australia's "Galapagos" for large number of unique animals and or wildlife endemic to area, fires continued to r in a big national park.

flames have alrey taken a heavy toll on island's population of koalas, birds and or endemic marsupial species.

Authorities have warned crisis could worsen again with Australia only halfway through its summer.