(Bloomberg) -- Australia could be heading for a period of drought and intense bushfires toward the end of the year as the nation grapples with climate extremes that’s costing the economy billions of dollars.

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Parts of Australia are already reeling from heavy rain and flooding that’s damaged crops, swept away roads and cost lives. The chaotic weather has been driven by an atmospheric phenomenon called La Nina, but climate researchers see hotter and drier conditions ahead.

“The most likely scenario for later this year is El Nino,” according to Scott Power, director of the Centre for Applied Climate Sciences at the University of Southern Queensland. The weather pattern typically brings warmer-than-average temperatures to Australia.

The world is experiencing its third straight year of La Nina, something that’s only happened twice since 1950. Australia is the driest inhabited continent and the impact of climate change can be particularly harsh. Flooding cost the economy around $3.5 billion in the 2021-22 fiscal year, which followed devastating bushfires in the summer of 2019-20.

Rain over the past three years has led to excessive plant growth that could pose a bushfire risk if conditions become more hot and dry, said Agus Santoso, a climate scientist at the University of New South Wales.

Another climatologist agrees. “All you need really is a hot day with some wind and something to start a fire, and off you go,” said Janette Lindesay, a professor at the Australian National University.

Prolonged wet weather also makes it harder for so-called fuel reduction burning, where authorities conduct controlled fires to cut back easily combustible dead and dried vegetation.