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SYDNEY: Parts of parched Australia received its heaviest rainfall in years on Friday but farmers warned much more is needed if the six-year drought is to be broken.
Towns in eastern Australia have experienced at least 25 millimetres (one inch) of rain since a wet weather system arrived on Thursday.
The National Farmers Federation said the rain was vital to winter crops but more was needed to break the drought which is crippling farm production and threatening water supplies in major cities.
"A system moving through like this doesn't break the drought, it provides relief, but we really need a month of this type of rain," federation president David Crombie told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We need to fill water tables that have been depleted over the years, that will in turn run creeks and rivers and, of course, fill dams.
"So, you know, there's a fair way to go yet, but what we've received is very, very welcome and we'd like more."
The rainfall, as high as 70 millimetres in some parts, surprised those living in some rural areas where roads have become waterlogged and schools have been forced to cancel sporting activities because of the deluge.
"It's just nice to see that it still can rain," said Anne Arnold of Condobolin in New South Wales' central west.
Mark Pickford from Yeoval, southwest of Sydney, described himself as happy as a "dog with two tails."
"It's still showering, yes beautiful, grass will grow," he said.
In southern Victoria state, where much rain has landed in water catchments, more heavy rain is expected later Friday and across the weekend.
"Things have been extremely dry, we've been eating dust for a long time like everyone else, (it's) just great," said Linda Sommerville of Rochester in central Victoria.
Prime Minister John Howard, who last month warned that the country's main agricultural zone would be stripped of irrigation water unless it rained by June, welcomed the downpour.
"Some of our prayers have been answered," he said.
"We need days, weeks more of that to say that the drought has ended."
- AFP/so
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