AUSTRALIA (NCC NEWS) — The tropical cyclone that tore through Indonesia in early April 2021, has made its way through western Australia leaving mass damage.
Cyclone Seroja had winds of up to 105 miles per hour that destroyed homes and left thousands without electricity.
Kalbarri, a coastal tourist town of 1,350 people in western Australia was one of the places hit the hardest. Authorities estimated around 70% of the town’s buildings were damaged. Roofs were ripped off homes, power lines were knocked over and roads were filled with debris.
The category 3 storm made landfall around 8 p.m, on Sunday. It is unusual for cyclones of this intensity to hit Australia as far south as this one did. Towns in this area physically were not prepared for this cyclone, which is why the damage was so intense.
As the cyclone moved inland it weakened and was downgraded to a tropical low cyclone.
Seroja clashed with another cyclone, Cyclone Odette, in a rare phenomenon known as Fujiwhara effect.
There were no deaths reported in Australia, but the cyclone took the lives of 138 people in Indonesia and left many more missing.
