By Renju Jose and Christine Chen
SYDNEY, March 20 (Reuters) – Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle lashed Australia’s northeast coast on Friday, bringing destructive winds, heavy rain and power outages as authorities urged residents to remain indoors.
Cyclone Narelle made landfall in remote parts of the Far North Queensland region as a category four system, one rung below the strongest category five, with winds reaching about 195 kph (120 mph), authorities said.
“There is a lot of rain in this system, and as it moves it will be hard and fast,” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told a press conference earlier on Friday.
The storm was downgraded to a category three tropical cyclone as it moved inland but will still bring significant weather impacts to North Queensland, the Bureau of Meteorology said in an afternoon update.
Crisafulli said initial reports suggest there has been some structural damage and some trees are down, but the impact has been relatively minimal.
Rescue and response teams, including power crews, health workers and ambulances, were already positioned for recovery efforts if needed.
Rio Tinto temporarily shut down its two bauxite mines, Amrun and Andoom, in northern Queensland and said it had activated its cyclone response plans.. Those mines produce about 30 million metric tons of bauxite a year.
“We are focused on making sure our people are safe and our operations are secure. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and take all necessary precautions,” Rio said.
Narelle made landfall about 550 km (340 miles) north of Cairns, the gateway to Far North Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.
Some residents evacuated to community centres before the cyclone struck, with storm warnings extending across a 600-km (370-mile) stretch of coast.
Lucretia Huen, whose family is at the Wellbeing Centre in the rural town of Coen, told ABC News that water supplies had been cut, with people relying on stocks of bottled water.
“Emotions are running high especially with no water and power but everyone is on alert,” Huen said.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone was expected to weaken as it moves west across the Cape York Peninsula over the next 18 hours.
(Reporting by Renju Jose and Christine Chen in Sydney; Writing by Praveen Menon; Editing by Stephen Coates, Lincoln Feast and Tom Hogue)
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