Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers highlighted the soaring cost of disaster management in his nation ahead of a potentially disastrous wildfire season in the coming summer, fueled by El Nino.

Government funding for disaster recovery has blown out by 433% over the past three years, Chalmers said in excerpts of a speech to be delivered Tuesday in the northern city of Rockhampton. The costs stood at A$2.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in the year ended June 30.

“The pressure of a changing climate and more frequent natural disasters is constant, cascading, and cumulative,” Chalmers said.