(UTV|COLOMBO) – Melbourne residents were warned that they could endure power outages on Friday as Australia’s second-largest city is forecast to experience its hottest day in a decade.
The Victoria state capital, with a population of 5 million, is set to reach 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit). That would be Melbourne’s hottest day since Feb. 7, 2009 _ a day of catastrophic wildfires that than is remembered as Black Saturday.
That day, the temperature soared to 46.4 C (115.5 F). Wildfires killed 173 people and razed more than 2,000 homes in Victoria.
Scores of wildfires are raging in heatwave conditions across much of drought-parched southeast Australia, with authorities warning the fire risk is high.
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