Canberra faces bushfires threat from out-of-control blaze started by military helicopter

Homes in Canberra were expected to come under threat from a bushfire on Tuesday evening as an out-of-control blaze in the Orroral Valley – accidentally lit by a military helicopter – ran towards the southern edge of the city.

The 8,000-hectare blaze was started in the Namadgi national park, a rugged mountainous area to Canberra’s south, by an Australian Defence Force helicopter carrying a landing light, the heat from which sparked the blaze in hot and dry conditions.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, residents of Tharwa, a village of about 80 people to Canberra’s south, were told it was too late to leave and they should seek shelter as the fire front approached.

The fire was running out-of-control, burning north and north-east, with embers lighting spot fires up to five kilometres ahead of the main front. Fire authorities said it was erratic, and was large and intense enough to create its own weather pattern.

The ACT emergency services agency said it expected spot fires to start with one kilometre of homes in Canberra’s most southerly suburbs, Banks, Calwell, Gordon, and Conder.

Related: Tharwa fire: residents in village near Canberra told to seek shelter as bushfire approaches

On Tuesday evening, flames were visible from southern Canberra backyards. Thick plumes of smoke were visible all over the city.

The ACT’s chief minister, Andrew Barr, warned the fires were the most serious fire threat to the ACT since the 2003 bushfires, which killed four people and destroyed 470 homes.

Evacuation centres have been opened across Canberra for people displaced by the fires.

Fire conditions worsen in NSW and Victoria

More fires could flare again across New South Wales and Victoria with an extreme heatwave expected for parts of both states on Friday, while a slow-moving low pressure system is pushing torrential rain across Queensland.

In NSW “it looks like fire danger is ramping up as we head into the weekend and Saturday will be the peak day”, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s David Wilke.

Friday would be the peak day in Victoria, bringing high humidity, hotter conditions and winds picking up, senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said.

Temperatures were expected to increase from Wednesday in NSW, rising to the low 40s on the south coast on Saturday and 41C to 43C in the Australian Capital Territory. Western Sydney could experience temperatures of up to 45C.

In Victoria, temperatures are expected to reach 44C to 45C across the north of the state on Friday.

The fire risk in NSW is predicted to escalate from Friday, with the south coast, southeast regions and ACT likely the worst affected, and northern NSW also experiencing bushfire danger through to Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The NSW Rural Fire Service says warm, dry and windy weather has led to a total fire ban being issued for the southern ranges on Tuesday. There’s also very high fire danger in the central and southeast regions of NSW.

NSW residents were encouraged to prepare for tough conditions this weekend.

A cold front is expected to move through NSW on Monday or Tuesday next week, bringing the extreme temperatures back down.

Storms are expected on Friday afternoon across western Victoria, bringing much needed rain to the region, but the rainfall is unlikely to be widespread in the east.

Wind gusts and torrential rain sweeps north Queensland

However, North Queensland communities are braced for more heavy rain after more than half a metre fell in some places in just over 24 hours since Monday.

Water levels rose quickly in the town of Ayr, just south of Townsville, after an extraordinary deluge dumped 458mm, starting at 9am Monday.

Burdekin mayor Lyn McLaughlin said the Bruce Highway was cut between Ayr and Home Hill, on the southern side of the Burdekin River.

Roads in Ayr itself were also closed with only emergency vehicles allowed to pass.

“We’re not letting any trucks through … because the bow waves from moving traffic is pushing water towards businesses and houses,” McLaughlin told the ABC.

Rita Island, just south of Ayr, has had even more rain – 615mm since 9am on Monday.

The deluge is being driven by a slow moving tropical low sitting over the waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is also bringing wild weather to that region.

Winds gusting to 90km/h and more torrential rain is expected on Tuesday and into Wednesday, with flash flooding possible at Burketown, Normanton, Croydon, Kowanyama, Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Georgetown, and Richmond.

There’s been significant rain at Winton, in the state’s parched central west. Residents are hoping for follow up rain that will make a real difference to graziers.
“If we can get some more in another month or so, that’ll just really set people up for the next six months,” the mayor of Winton, Gavin Baskett, said on Tuesday.

In Townsville, State Emergency Service crews have been called in to prevent flood damage.

The mayor of Townsville, Jenny Hill, said so far there were no concerns the low pressure system would cause a repeat of the devastating floods of February last year, which caused more than $1bn of damage.

“At the moment it’s acting like a typical wet season where we see downpours with significant breaks in between,” she told AAP.

Related: Our ancestors managed fire country for millennia. We yearn to burn once more | Oliver Costello

“Last year we didn’t have those breaks, it just kept raining and raining and raining. So far it’s pretty much been business as usual.”

Flood warnings of various levels have been issued for rivers throughout the state’s interior.

Isolated heavy falls in catchments upstream have flooded the Paroo River in the state’s southwest, with bridges cut at Eulo. The river is expected to reach a moderate flood level by mid-week.

Paroo shire council deputy mayor Suzette Beresford said the rain was very welcome after six years of drought.

“It’s been patchy, with some properties receiving a bit more than others,” she said. “As long as it keeps coming.”