Severe cyclone hits Australia
SYDNEY, Australia -- Severe tropical cyclone Ingrid has touched down in remote north-east Australia, forcing hundreds of people along the coast to evacuate their homes.
The category three storm made landfall overnight in Australia near the sparsely populated town of Lockhart River in the state of Queensland, bringing with it destructive winds of up to 230 km/h (143 mph).
It is the most powerful storm to hit the Queensland state coast in more than three decades.
It was downgraded from a category five earlier this week.
Unusually, Ingrid had retained most of its formation even after touching land, CNN weather forecaster Mari Ramos said.
"The cyclone has really held together as it moved inland, in fact, intensifying right before making landfall," Ramos said.
"Since then it has weakened some, but it is still very strong".
The storm is "huge" spanning 800 km (500 miles) from one end to the other, she said.
The Queensland state government reported the area around Lockhart River appeared to have escaped any major damage or injuries from the cyclone.
But Ingrid still "poses a serious threat in the short term," and has "the potential to generate a dangerous storm tide," the Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre said on its Web site.
Residents in the predicted line of the storm packed sandbags, felled trees, and gathered emergency supplies.
"Outside trees are bending and branches are coming down ... we are just waiting to see what happens and hoping it doesn't come right over us," Lockhart River Council chief executive officer Peter Buckland said from a shelter at the community police station during the storm.
It is expected to bring a storm surge of about two meters (7 feet) on top of rising tides that are expected to flood low-lying coastal areas in far north of the state, the cyclone center said.
Ingrid is moving very slowly to the west, which means that some areas being soaked by storm will continue to see heavy rain for at least another 24 hours, CNN's Ramos said.
As it re-emerges over the Gulf waters, there is a very good chance it will intensify, she added.
"Ingrid still has a very long way to go before it even threatens Darwin," Ramos said.
Tropical north Queensland has a permanent population of around 230,000 people.
It has a large rural economy and strong tourist industry which attracts as many as 1.5 million visitors a year.
On Christmas Eve in 1974, the town of Darwin in Australia's far north was devastated by Cyclone Tracy.
Despite issued warnings, many residents were caught unprepared as the cyclone hit and leveled most major buildings.
Forty-nine people died and a further 16 perished at sea, while total damage ran into hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
