Huge hail storm hits Australian capital as wildfires rage on

Australia's capital Canberra was battered by hailstones the size of golfballs on Monday, as storms brought much-needed rain to parts of the bushfire-stricken country.

Cars were dented and windshields smashed and more than 1,000 homes lost power across the Australian Capital Territory, near New South Wales.

Emergency services received close to 2,000 calls for help as the storm whipped the city with winds up to 70 miles per hour.

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Strong winds also hit parts of central New South Wales, whipping up huge dust storms which blanketed entire towns.

Video filmed by Jennifer Browning shows a column of brown dust rushing towards the town of Dubbo on Monday.

Local media reported the dust storm damaged a school.

Heavy rainfall from storms across south-eastern Australia have brought relief to firefighters over the last week, but also brought flash flooding in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

But despite the downpour, more than 90 fires were still burning in New South Wales and Victoria on Monday.

Since September, the fires have killed 28 people and burned more than 2,600 homes.

It's estimated at least a billion animals have been killed in the blazes.