CYCLONE SLAMS INTO NORTHEAST

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA A powerful cyclone packing winds of up to 260 kilometres per hour roared across Australia’s tropical northeast on Tuesday, uprooting trees, tearing down fences and knocking out power to thousands, officials said.

Cyclone Debbie, which slammed into the coast of Queensland state as a fierce Category 4 storm, quickly began to weaken after making landfall near the resort town of Airlie Beach, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said. By Tuesday night, it had been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, with wind gusting up to 155 kilometres per hour.

The extent of the damage from the storm was not known as night fell across the region, but there were reports of roofs peeling from homes, fences crumbling and trees snapping in half. The idyllic Whitsunday Islands, a popular tourist destination, were hit particularly hard.