Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Tropical cyclone Fina has left the northern region Australia without power after breaking past darwin with destructive winds, while a separate violent storm system devastated the South Australian city of Port Pirie.
Fina, which turned into a category three cyclone as soon as it crossed northern regionAccording to , Top End moved across the capital late on Saturday night with wind speed of about 205 km per hour. Bureau of Meteorology,
The storm later moved over open waters in the Timor Sea, but forecasters expect it to remain a severe system as it moves west. Western Australia,
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said about 19,000 customers lost power darwin – a city of 140,000 people and a major northern canton AustraliaArmed Forces of India – Extensive damage was caused to power lines, houses and local roads following the cyclone.
“This cyclone saw a region that was united and prepared for what was to come,” Ms Finocchiaro said.
Emergency workers have urged residents to stay away from downed lines while damage assessments continue. darwin The international airport, which was closed on Saturday as a precaution, said it was “working to resume operations as soon as it is safe to do so”.
for many people darwinFina evokes memories of Cyclone Tracy, the devastating 1974 storm that destroyed much of the city on Christmas Day and killed 66 people – one of the worst natural disasters AustraliaModern history of.
According to local broadcaster ABC, Fina is the strongest cyclone to hit Darwin since Cyclone Tracy, and is even stronger than Cyclone Marcus, a category-two system that hit the city in 2018.
New Zealander Laurent Marsh, who lives in Darwin, told RNZ he had endured a “very, very stormy night” and saw significant damage near the Royal Darwin Hospital in the northern suburb of Tiwi.
“This is our first cyclone in six years,” he said. “It started out at category two and then went up to category three overnight.”
He said the system is expected to reach category four strength over the sea, although its impact on land is now less certain.
in officers Western Australia A warning has been issued for the communities of Wadeye in northern region to remote settlements along the Kimberley coast, including Kalumburu and Troughton Island.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said residents in isolated areas should prepare for dangerous conditions even if the storm’s winds do not reach their cities.
“The extremely destructive center of the cyclone is now located well off the northwest Top End coast,” an advisory said.
Fina is expected to weaken from Monday as it approaches the Kimberley region, although emergency services have warned that conditions could change rapidly.
While Fina was being fought in the north, a sudden and intense storm struck the South Australian city of Port Pirie late on Saturday night, bringing hail, high winds and widespread power outages.
The State Emergency Service (SES) said it received 170 calls for assistance within half a day after wind gusts of up to 119 km per hour caused trees to fall and roofs to collapse. Kirsty Phelps, acting chief officer of the SES, said 165 volunteers were deployed after “approximately 350 call-outs”, ABC News reported.
South AustraliaThe Premier, Peter Malinauskas, said the storm cell was “sudden” and “not anticipated”. Bureau of Meteorology,
“This was a ferocious storm, showing that nature can be very unpredictable,” Mr Malinauskas said.
The state electricity provider, SA Power Networks, reported that power was cut off to about 4,900 homes at the peak of the outages.
Cecilia Schutz, the company’s external affairs manager, said about 50 power lines were brought down and more than a dozen poles were “either pushed or completely out of the ground”.
Seventy-two repair crews and contractors are working to restore service, with power expected to be restored to most homes by Sunday night.
Port Pirie resident Angela Lewis said the moment she entered her flooded back room, the ceiling collapsed.
She told ABC News, “Fortunately, I took a step back to get a longer shot and the ceiling fell in, so she missed me. She missed me by about a foot.” She said the hail was reaching her husband’s ankles and water was pouring through light fittings.
The storm lasted “10, 15 minutes,” she said, but destroyed large portions of her home.
Mayor Leon Stephens asked residents to stay indoors while emergency teams cleared streets. “There are a lot of power lines and poles that are bent over,” Mr Stephens said.
Jenny Horvat, meteorologist Bureau of Meteorologysaid that there were thunderstorms South Australia 20–40 mm of rain fell overnight across the Adelaide metropolitan area, from west to east throughout Saturday.
“It’s spring – we expect to see these dynamic troughs and lows across the state at this time of year,” Ms Horvat said.
In March, ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred caused similar damage in neighboring Queensland, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people.
No casualties have been reported so far in any storm.