Firefighters across the fire-stricken provinces of Australia are rejoicing over the arrival of some much-needed rain.

In just one single day, torrential rainfall across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory extinguished about one-third of the active bushfires—and officials say the downpour could put out even more of the fires during the days to come.

Collectively, the rainfall has extinguished 20 of the active fires, leaving 42 fires still blazing across the coast. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, only two of those fires are above the “low-moderate” safety rating.

This is also the largest single-day drop in active wildfires since the fire season began.

Although the downpour has resulted in some flooding across the provinces, the NSW Rural Fire Service says they are “over the moon” to see the rainfall aiding them in their fight against the bushfires.

 

Many of the bushfires have been fueled by the drought conditions that have plagued eastern Australia for the last three years.

Thanks to the rain, however, Sydney—which is the largest city in Australia—enjoyed their wettest day on record in about 15 months, and weather services are calling for another 350 millimeters of rain this weekend.

 

 

According to The Guardian, the last time the city received more than 100 millimeters of rain in a day was back in November 2018.

“It was fantastic to wake up to much-needed rain this morning!” says Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore. “Today has already been the wettest Sydney day in 15 months, and thankfully it’s raining across NSW where we need it most.”

The NSW Rural Fire Service says that more than 1,200 firefighters are currently taking advantage of the weather conditions to continue containing the fires while their division simultaneously prepares for the upcoming flood warnings.

 

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