'Monster' Cyclone Debbie Batters Northeast Australia

AYR, Australia, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Mar, 2017 ) - A "monster" cyclone smashed into northeast Australia Tuesday, cutting power, damaging buildings and uprooting trees, with coastal residents battling lashing rain and howling winds.

Great Barrier Reef islands popular with foreign tourists were battered by the category four storm which slammed into the coast of Queensland state with destructive wind gusts of up to 270 kph (167 miles) near its broad core.

There were fears its arrival would coincide with early morning high tides and cause severe flooding, but it slowed before making landfall between the towns of Bowen and Airlie Beach in the early afternoon.

By late evening it had been downgraded to category two and was expected to weaken further. At least one person was seriously injured, but the extent of damage was not expected to be known until daybreak with conditions too dangerous for emergency crews to venture outside despite hundreds of calls for help.

"At first light tomorrow, we'll be sending people in to do a rapid assessment of the damage," said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, with flash flooding and still powerful winds making it hard to do this at night.