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People along the northeast Australian coast are reeling from the impacts of Cyclone Debbie after the powerful Category 4 storm made landfall on Tuesday.
World | Australia

Several unknowns exist in wake of Cyclone Debbie; Latest


Daksha Rangan
Digital Reporter

Tuesday, March 28, 2017, 10:52 AM - People along the northeast Australian coast are reeling from the impacts of Cyclone Debbie after the powerful Category 4 storm made landfall on Tuesday.

So far, Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull confirmed one fatality in the storm's aftermath, the BBC reports. The Insurance Council of Australia declared a catastrophe in the region, triggering emergency measures for dealing with the large number of expected insurance claims. According to the Guardian website, Queensland Police commissioner Ian Stewart stated that several communities were cut off from communication and it wasn’t known how badly they have been hit.

Winds of more than 260 kilometres per hour were recorded at resorts spanning the Great Barrier Reef. The storm has since been downgraded to a Category 2, and is expected to diminish to a Category 1 storm by early Wednesday local time; however, the threat for severe weather is expected to continue over the next 12 to 24 hours, Reuters reports.


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According to local police, one man was "hurt badly" due to a collapsing wall, The Guardian reports. The wall collapsed at Proserpine, roughly 900 km northwest of Brisbane, and the man was taken to the hospital.

Still, severe weather continues and it remains challenging to fully assess the damage or begin emergency response, officials say.

Watch Below: Winds howl through Airlie Beach as Cyclone Debbie makes landfall

"We will also receive more reports of injuries, if not deaths. We need to be prepared for that," Stewart told Reuters.

Telephone lines remain down, with power outages still in effect for almost 50,000 people between the towns of Bowen and Mackay, and in the regions north and south of Airlie Beach, the publication reports.

Approximately half a metre of rain is expected to fall by the time the storm completely tracks out of the hardest-hit areas. Storm surge is also expected to peak at 4 metres.


KEEP ON TOP OF ACTIVE WEATHER: Take a look at forecast conditions in Brisbane, Australia, here.


Thousands were urged to leave the region on Monday, making what would've been the largest evacuation in Australia since Cyclone Tracy in 1974 -- a Christmas storm that claimed dozens of lives and cost roughly $800 million in damages.

Debbie is the strongest storm to hit Queensland since Cyclone Yasi in 2011.

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