Australia's main city, Sydney, has been cut off from the north after fierce bushfires, fanned by strong winds, closed major highways and rail tracks as they burned for a third straight day.
While a splash of rain and easing temperatures brought some relief for firefighters battling blazes to Sydney's south and in the Blue Mountains to the west, gale-force winds whipped up fires that have destroyed up to 20 homes in the city's north.
New South Wales rural fire service spokesman Mr John Winters said the bushfire in northern Sydney had doubled in size in the past 24 hours to 16,000 hectares, and the light rain that fell overnight had done little to douse its ferocity.
"It really has been just a temporary lull," he said.
Three thousand firefighters and at least 80 water-bombing aircraft have joined the battle against what officials say are the worst bushfires to hit Sydney in at least three decades.
Reinforcements were due to arrive from the Australian states of Victoria and South Australia on Friday and Saturday to help their firemen colleagues in New South Wales.
With the island continent of 20 million in the grip of one of the most severe droughts in a century, the authorities have been warning since the first bushfires flared in the southern hemisphere's winter month of July that this season could be worse than last Christmas, when Sydney was ringed by flames.