Tropical Cyclone “Debbie” made landfall around 00:40 UTC on March 28, 2017 between small towns of Bowen and Airlie Beach in Queensland as Category 4 tropical cyclone on the Australian tropical cyclone wind scale. Many locations in the cyclone’s path have so far received 150 – 200 mm (up to 7.9 inches) of rain. So far, at least one person has been killed and one seriously injured, over 25 000 are displaced and at least 45 000 without power. Hundreds of schools were closed Tuesday.

Tropical Cyclone “Debbie” formed in the Coral Sea on March 25, 2017 as the first cyclone of what has been very quiet season across the southern hemisphere. It reached Category 3 strength on March 27, and Category 4 just before it made landfall. Debbie’s center crossed the mainland around 00:40 UTC (12:40 AEST). Preliminary landfall intensity was estimated at 194.4 km/h (120.8 mph) based on Dvorak analysis and earlier gusts up to 262 km/h (162.8 mph) at Hamilton Island, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology data released 12:00 UTC today. READ MORE