SYDNEY (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people in Australia’s Queensland state were without power on Friday after a tropical cyclone hit overnight, bringing damaging winds and heavy rains.
Tropical cyclone Kirrily, a category two system, made landfall late on Thursday along coast bordering the Great Barrier Reef near the tourist town of Townsville, before being downgraded to a tropical low on Friday.
Australia is in the grips of an El Nino weather event, which is typically associated with extreme phenomena such as cyclones, wildfires, droughts and heatwaves.
Ergon Energy spokesperson Emma Oliveri said around 53,000 customers were without power on Friday due to cyclone Kirrily.
“The bulk of those power outages are in Townsville,” Oliveri told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Oliveri said it was too early to say when power would be restored with “detailed damage assessment” still to be done.
Category two cyclones are three rungs away from the most dangerous and can cause significant damage to trees, caravans, and crops, and break boats from their moorings.
The nation’s weather forecaster said the ex-cyclone would likely bring heavy rain with possible damaging winds to parts of northern Queensland on Friday.
“Winds with peak gusts of around 90 km per hour (55 mph) are possible,” the weather forecaster said on its website.
Kirrily was the second tropical cyclone in the area since December when cyclone Jasper caused widespread regional damage.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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