NORTH QUEENSLAND (Reuters) –Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull praised the resilience of residents in Queensland state as he surveyed the damage caused by Cyclone Debbie in Bowen on Thursday (March 30).
Cyclone Debbie struck as a category four storm on Tuesday (March 28), smashing tourist resorts, ripping off roofs, bringing down power lines, flattening canefields and flooding coastal regions.
Tens of thousands more people were still without power on Thursday in north Queensland, where officials issued new evacuation warnings ahead of more heavy rainfall in the wake of the powerful cyclone.
The storm, now downgraded to a tropical low, tracked over Queensland’s central interior before moving southeast and driving squalls towards the state capital, Brisbane, causing flash floods and prompting the government to close more than 2,000 schools.
