Australia urges residents in Adelaide suburbs to evacuate due to bushfires

South Australian authorities on December 23 urged residents living in the southern Adelaide suburb of Onkaparinga to evacuate as firefighters continued to battle bushfires.

Despite the emergency warning being downgraded, communities and firefighters in south-east Australia are still dealing with severe bushfire risks.

Even on December 24, despite more favorable conditions for firefighting, some forest fires were still breaking out in Victoria state.

With temperatures forecast to exceed 30 degrees Celsius in the state on December 25 and 40 degrees Celsius on December 26, Victorians are advised to prepare for the risk of severe bushfires.

Residents of communities evacuated over the weekend due to the threat of major bushfires in the Grampians National Park, about 230km west of Melbourne, were allowed to return home for two hours on the morning of December 24 to retrieve belongings.

Authorities say the fire, which has burned more than 41,000 hectares of land in the national park in the past eight days, will continue to burn for weeks to come.

The head of the Victorian Emergency Management Agency, Rick Nugent, said the situation was difficult to predict, which he said would make fires more likely to start and spread more quickly.

Fire authorities also advised people to avoid passing through affected areas unless necessary.