SYDNEY, Oct 3 (Reuters) - A bushfire in Australia's Victoria state more than trebled overnight and authorities urged residents in a remote part of Tasmania state to evacuate as a spring heatwave fanned fires across the country's southeast.
Across the Bass Strait in Tasmania state, residents on the northern edge of Flinders Island were told to evacuate from an out of control bushfire.
Fires are being stoked by hot, dry winds across southeast as the country experiences an unseasonably hot spring.
Australia began spring with its driest September on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with rainfall 71% below the 1961-1990 average.
Conditions are expected to change rapidly in Victoria Tuesday afternoon, with heavy rains expected to help douse fires but potentially trigger flash flooding.
Persons:
Jason Heffernan, Heffernan, they're, Lewis Jackson, Richard Chang
Organizations:
SYDNEY, Country Fire Authority, Meteorology, Greater, Thomson
Locations:
Australia's Victoria, Tasmania, Victoria state's Gippsland, Bass, Flinders, Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Greater Sydney Region, Sydney's