SYDNEY: A tropical storm that made landfall overnight in Australia’s Queensland state left tens of thousands of people without electricity and with strong winds and rain on Friday.
After making landfall late on Thursday along the Great Barrier Reef coast, close to the popular town of Townsville, tropical cyclone Kirrily, a category two storm, was downgraded to a tropical low on Friday.
El Nino weather events, which are usually linked to extreme occurrences like cyclones, wildfires, droughts, and heatwaves, are currently affecting Australia.
64,000 people were without power on Friday as a result of the storm, according to Queensland Premier Steven Miles, who spoke with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
The majority of power disruptions, according to Ergon Energy spokesperson Emma Oliveri, were in Townsville. She also stated that it was premature to predict when power will return.
Three rungs below the most dangerous, category two cyclones can break boats off their moorings and seriously damage trees, crops, and caravans.
The country’s weather forecaster predicted that on Friday, the former cyclone would probably bring regions of northern Queensland heavy rain and maybe severe winds.
On its website, the weather forecaster stated that “winds with peak gusts of around 90 km/h (55 mph) are possible.”
Miles stated that because “there is a lot of rain still to come,” there was a high chance of flooding.
Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, stated that soldiers were ready.
“The people of far north Queensland have copped a lot in recent times,” a transcript from Albanese’s speech in Canberra states.
Kirrily was the region’s second tropical storm since hurricane Jasper in December, which severely damaged a large portion of the territory.
A heatwave alert was issued for portions of Queensland and its southern neighbor, New South Wales, with the weather forecaster predicting highs in the fortys Celsius on Friday for certain regional sections of Queensland.
According to weather forecaster data, Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, was expected to experience a temperature in the west of the city of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), which is more than nine degrees higher than the usual maximum for January.
