This week, February 7, marks the second anniversary of the wildfires in Victoria, Australia, that killed 173 people and injured hundreds more. The fires occurred during an intense heat wave after weeks of almost no rain.
In so many places affected by wildfires, people fear the flooding that follows: first the fire destroys vegetation, then rains remove the unprotected topsoil and other debris. This has been a risk in Australia, too, since the 2009 fires, which burned more than a million acres.
Australia has had more than its share of natural disasters recently, including the record flooding in December and January in Queensland and New South Wales to the east. This week, in various parts of the country, things are happening almost in reverse as wildfires burn in the western part of the continent. In the state of Western Australia, two fires—one apparently caused by a man using electrical equipment in his backyard and the other by a tree branch falling on power lines—have burned 4,000 acres and destroyed or damaged dozens of homes near Perth. A third fire destroyed about 3,000 acres.
The summer season in Australia brings both the greatest risk of wildfires throughout the country and heightened risk of heavy rains and tropical storms.