Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), is now entirely in drought, officials have confirmed.
A dry winter has intensified what has been called the worst drought in living memory in parts of eastern Australia.
NSW produces about a quarter of Australia’s agricultural output. It was officially listed as “100% in drought” on Wednesday.
The state and federal governments have provided A$576m (£330m; $430m) in emergency relief funding.
“There isn’t a person in the state that isn’t hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities,” said NSW Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair.
What has caused the drought?
Southern Australia has just experienced its second-driest autumn on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with rainfall 57mm (2.24in) below average.
Less than 10mm of rain was recorded in parts of NSW in July, and drier than normal conditions are forecast in coming months.
On Wednesday, officials said 23% of NSW was classified as being in “intense drought”, with the remainder in drought or drought-affected.
Source: BBC