situation with the fires worse and cause more fires. for more on this, let s bring in cnn producer joel lobby. you are from australia and can give us a sense of what s happening. what s the latest? the latest is that the fire authorities are saying that the fire is subdued, but not under control. so what they re looking at at the moment is containing, building containment lines around these towns south of lawn, a very popular tourist area. they re trying to make sure the flames don t spread. new year s eve and new year s day, they re expecting over 100 degrees fahrenheit. these are conditions that if the winds whip up, this is just, could be a catastrophic fire condition. and the blaze is already big enough. i just want to let you know that the intensity of the blaze as well, the emergency management commissioner who is essentially heading up the operation to stop
victoria state. the fires had been subdued, but not before destroying nearly 100 homes. parts of great ocean road, a popular scene eck highway were also shut down. emergency officials say dry conditions could cause more fires. and for more on these fires, i m joined by cnn producer, joel lobby, and joel from australia, you can obviously tell us what s happening there. the late east terminology that they are using is that this blaze is subdued but not contained yet. what we can read into is that they have some sort of control over the flames. there isn t enough wind to make it a threat to anymore homes for the time being. but new year s eve, new year s day, that is the time period of most concern to them. because temperatures in australia, temperatures in victoria, i should say, are going to be hitting the mid to high 30s celsius, over 100 degrees fahrenheit, and that coupled with potentially stronger winds could really fan this blaze out.
away, an hour away from where it s usually held because the threat is so potent right now. they have planning. they prepare for these things. joel lobby, thank you for your reporting there. now on to northern china where a thick, lingering haze has caused several car crashes. pileups involving dozens of trucks caused a huge backup on saturday. firefighters had to save people who were trapped inside their vehicles. a few people were even sent to hospitals. no word yet on the extent of those injuries. you re watching cnn newsroom, and still to come in just a few minutes, we will take you live to italy where pope francis is celebrating the feast of the holy family inside the vat can. plus, iraqi forces make a gain in their fight against isis. stay with us. this is cnn newsroom
heavy rain, not done yet. very saturated environment. that means flash flooding still going to be a concern. arkansas into mississippi and alabama once again. on the cold side of the system, heavy snow, blizzard conditions. that would be for the texas and oklahoma panhandle. here s threats for severe weather. this is for your saturday, san antonio to dallas and shreveport. here s our storm system, bringing in all the rainfall and our watches and warnings map. george, lighting up just like a christmas tree, just like our forecast accumulation across this area. another five to ten inches of rain possible with this next storm coming up. a lot of rain and storms in the east. sort of normal there in the west. it s cold. they re getting the snow. the skiers like it, that s for sure. they like that for sure. derek, stand by. let s move on to australia where a bush fire in the southern part of the country destroyed at least 116 homes. our cnn producer, joel lobby is