Heat Cuts Power, Boosts Fires, Disrupts Australian Open Tennis Match

[hatrack]

MELBOURNE - a heatwave scorching southeastern Australia knocked out power to nearly 4,000 homes in Adelaide and regional areas, disrupted sports events and stoked bush fires in three states on Sunday. ETSA, the local power distributor in South Australia, said about 1,250 homes in the Adelaide metropolitan area and about 2,700 homes in regional areas had lost power, mainly as transformer fuses popped in the heat.

"The continuous extreme heat has created isolated pockets of network stress, and we anticipate this to be an issue today until a change in the weather pattern," ETSA said on its web site. Bushfires raged in parts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania as temperatures soared above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on the third day of a heatwave.

Extreme temperatures in Melbourne, the Victorian capital, disrupted the Australian Open tennis tournament for the third successive day. With the mercury hitting 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit), play on uncovered courts was suspended and retractable roofs were rolled into place above the show courts.

Hundreds of firefighters aided by 18 aircraft were battling a dozen blazes across Victoria. Winds were fanning flames towards homes in Gippsland, in the state's east, where more than 4,700 hectares have of bushland have been destroyed, the Department of Sustainability and Environment said.

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