Intense thunderstorms have brought heavy rain, hail and strong winds to some regions of Australia. Several of the regions hit have been ravaged by some of the worst bush fires in decades. People and wildlife alike have celebrated the rain. It has helped disperse in major cities like Melbourne and Sydney. A number of fierce bush fires have now been extinguished, or at least weakened. Meteorologists warned, however, that intense thunderstorms may lead to flash flooding. Lightning also brought the risk of new fires being ignited, especially when it was accompanied by no rain. The region of eastern Australia will be characterised by unsettled weather in the next few days. The rainfall in some areas might be useful and in other spots it might only be a millimetre or two. There were still 85 fires burning across the state of New South Wales on Thursday, with 30 of them yet to be contained, while 19 fires were alight in Victoria, according to fire authorities.