Australia and New Zealand brace for fierce winds and heat

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WELLINGTON (Reuters) -Australia and New Zealand face further damaging winds and heat this week, with meteorological agencies on Wednesday warning conditions will deteriorate in coming days.

New Zealand’s forecaster MetService said gusts could reach 150 kilometres an hour (93 miles per hour) along the South Island’s east coast and up to 140 kilometres an hour around Wellington, the capital, on Thursday.

Authorities said people should stay indoors, avoid travel and prepare for possible power and communications outages. The warnings follow strong winds and heavy rain on Tuesday that left thousands without power and killed a man in a Wellington park when a tree branch fell on him.

The weather is a concern for firefighters trying to contain wildfires near Kaikoura on the South Island and in Hawke’s Bay on the North Island, which were fanned by Tuesday’s winds.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Assistant National Commander Ken Cooper said 14 buildings had been destroyed near Kaikoura, including five homes. Roads remain closed in the area and evacuation centres have been set up. Officials have not estimated the area burned.

FENZ said in Hawke’s Bay they were making good progress with the four vegetation fires, although it was quite windy, and they were monitoring the weather.

In Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology said extreme heat across central regions could challenge records and bring heatwaves and elevated fire danger. Sydney is forecast to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Stephen Coates)