Melbourne: Thunderstorms and rain across parts of bushfire-devastated eastern Australia brought some relief to the harried people and firefighters but posed a new challenge of flash floods. The raging Australian bushfires, one of the worst in its history, burned over 10 million hectares of land, destroyed over 2,000 homes and pushed many species towards extinction, apart from claiming the lives of 28 people.

The air quality in Melbourne deteriorated to the 'worst in the world' on Tuesday due to the smoke from the massive bushfires. While 16 fires are still burning across Australia's Victoria state, thunderstorms on Wednesday night brought some relief from the dense smoke haze. In the state of New South Wales, where many of the worst fires have burnt, there were 'good falls' on some blazes early Thursday, the local meteorology bureau reported.