Bushfire alert: 3 killed, 150 homes destroyed in Australia

Ferocious bushfires in eastern Australia have killed at least three people and forced thousands from their homes, with the death toll expected to rise.

Catastrophic fires have killed three people and razed more than 150 homes since Friday, but cooler weather overnight provided a measure of reprieve for firefighters and residents.

More than 100 fires were still burning across New South Wales and Queensland on Sunday, including dozens of blazes that remained out of control.

Some homes were completely burned to the ground in the small rural town, and in one just a fireplace could be seen among the smouldering rubble.

At an evacuation centre in the town of Taree, Prime Minister Scott Morrison praised the work of firefighters, volunteers and members of the community but spoke of challenging days ahead.

A body was found in a burnt-out building near the east-coast town of Taree, police said, while another victim was found in a car and a woman died despite medics trying for several hours to save her.

The mayor of the small town of Glen Innes, where two people died, said residents had been left traumatized and were still coming to terms with their losses.

High temperatures, low humidity and strong winds forecast from the middle of the week are predicted to fuel blazes that authorities have warned they will be unable to contain ahead of time.

New South Wales’s rural fire service said an emergency warning was in place for four fires among the dozens raging across the state.

Earlier this year, The Amazon, world’s most biodiverse rainforest, was burning at a rate not seen in almost a decade.

It was decried as a global tragedy. Lit by farmers, the fires raged through villages, destroyed ecosystems and pumped climate-warming pollution into the atmosphere.