After months of bushfires and years of drought, eastern parts of Australia have finally been drenched with much-needed rain.
However, while the deluge has provided relief from one set of adverse weather conditions, the same area now faces problems with flooding, power outages and water damage after the wettest four day period in 30 years.
Experts and scientists can't be exactly sure how much the rain has replenished and revitalised the dry inland areas that have been enduring a three-year drought, but they do know that a load of the bushfires have finally been put out after months of devastation.
Quentin Grafton, who is a water expert and economics professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, said the rain had helped to break the drought conditions in many places, but had not been distributed evenly across all affected areas.
Speaking to Metro, Grafton explained: "At this stage, it's very good news, and certainly much more than people could have wished for or expected.
"There are some very happy people."
Professor Grafton added that they'll start to learn a bit more about how useful the rain has been through closely monitoring the rivers in the area over the next few days.
He also said that the area that has been affected by the drought covers more than 580,000 miles, which is an area larger than the African nation of Ethiopia.
One thing is for sure, the rains have provided welcome respite to the areas that have been ravaged by wildfires over the past few months.
The fires have been causing havoc, destroying property, and killing countless animals.
Among those celebrating the rains will surely be the emergency service workers who have been working tirelessly to control the blazes and save communities from complete ruin.
On Saturday, it was announced that the Currowan fire, near to Sydney, is out. It destroyed more than 300 homes, as well as 500,000 hectares of land.
As well as that, the Gospers Mountain 'megafire' has also gone out, finally.
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service tweeted: "This is the most positive news we've had in some time.
"The recent rainfall has assisted firefighters to put over 30 fires out since Friday. Some of these blazes have been burning for weeks and even months."
James Jackson, the president of NSW Farmers, told Reuters: "This one event won't replenish the whole soil moisture profile.
"We'll need a couple of these, but this is certainly a good start for those people who got it."
Featured Image Credit: ShutterstockTopics: Weather, World News, Australia