Thousands of residents of Australia's Northern Territory were left without power on Tuesday after a tropical cyclone lashed the region, including the territory's capital, Darwin, with strong winds, Reuters reported.
Category three storm "Fina", with winds gusting to 205 km/h today, moved away from Darwin after passing through it late last night as a "strong tropical cyclone", the national meteorological service said, quoted by BTA.
Leah Finochiaro, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, said about 19,000 people were without power due to the cyclone, which also damaged buildings and flooded roads. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Darwin International Airport, which was closed as a precaution yesterday due to "Fina", said today it was working to resume flights as soon as possible.
"Fina" brought back painful memories for Darwin residents of Cyclone "Tracy", which swept through much of the city on Christmas Day 1974. "Tracy" killed 66 people and was one of Australia's most destructive natural disasters.
Category 3 tropical cyclones, two notches below the highest level of danger, typically damage or destroy buildings, destroy crops, down trees and cause power outages.
In March, Tropical Cyclone "Alfred" passed through the Northern Territory's neighboring state of Queensland, causing schools there to be closed and hundreds of thousands of residents to be left without power.