Powerful cyclone hits Australia

Storm causes evacuations, cuts power, damages roofs

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA— A powerful cyclone reached mainland Queensland Tuesday afternoon after a morning of lashing islands popular with tourists, damaging roofs and cutting power.

The Queensland Police tweeted about 3:20 p.m. that Debbie, a category 4 cyclone with winds gusting to 250 km/h and torrential rain, had made landfall between Bowen and Airlie Beach, about 1,000 kilometres north of Brisbane, Queensland’s capital.

Winds gusting to 263 km/h had hit nearby the Whitsunday and Hayman islands earlier Tuesday.

The eye of the storm was estimated to be 50 kilometres wide.

“We’re getting some reports already of roofs starting to lift, including at some of our own facilities in the Whitsundays,” the state’s deputy police commissioner, Steve Gollschewski, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. television before the cyclone had struck Bowen.

He warned people in Debbie’s path they would be holed up for the entire day on Tuesday and could expect flooding in inland areas.

ABC reported about 25,000 people in low-lying areas have been urged to seek higher ground, and that the streets of Bowen were deserted.

Whitsundays Regional Council Mayor Andrew Willcox said authorities had received 98 requests for help and had responded to most of them. He said 10,000 premises had lost electricity.

Police commissioner Ian Stewart said communities along more than 300 kilometres of coastline would be affected from Ayr to south of Mackay. Thousands of people began evacuating areas in Debbie’s path on Monday.

The storm could intensify to a Category 5.