Rain fills hearts & dams in some drought-parched areas

With bushfires still burning and many farmers continuing to manage one of worst droughts on record, rain was a long-over due visitor in parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria this week.

In Queensland, Bawnduggie, north of Chinchilla, recorded 150 millimetres in the 24 hours from 9am Thursday. Broadmere, north-west of Taroom, received 148mm; Jandowae on the Western Downs recorded 102mm and Mt Barney in the Scenic Rim had 112mm.

In NSW, much of the state's north didn't miss out. Bulahdelah, on the north coast received 112m and Bundarra, on the Northern Tablelands, south west of Inverell, recorded 105mm.

Severely drought-stricken Moree recorded 49mm. In Broken Hill 36mm of rain prompted farmer Nick Andrews to make good on a promise to shave off his beard.

In the south-east of NSW, the town of Cooma, an hour south of Canberra, is surrounded by two major bushfires and is acting as a base for a large contingent of defence and emergency service personnel. On Thursday, Parts of the Monaro town was inundated with as a flash storm.

Victoria received little to no rain with the bushfires in the areas of East Gippsland and its alpine region still burning.

A low pressure system expected to form over southern NSW on Sunday will make its way into central and eastern parts of Victoria on Monday, with the potential of between 10-25mm of rainfall.

With the rain forecasted to continue over the weekend for much of the east coast, people all over the country are joining in the celebrations as Australia enjoys some much needed rain after months of devastating bushfires and years of drought.