Australia's Northern Territory braces for Tropical Cyclone Narelle impact

March 20, 2026 7:50 PM EDT

(Corrects typo in ‌paragraph 1, ​removes ​extraneous letter)

SYDNEY, March 21 (Reuters) - Tropical Cyclone Narelle was forecast to hit Australia's ‌Northern Territory on Saturday after a day ⁠earlier bringing destructive winds, heavy rain and power outages ‌to the country's northeast ‌coast.

Narelle, a category two system moving west in the Gulf of Carpentaria, would likely reach ​the remote east of the territory late on Saturday, the nation's weather bureau ⁠said.

"Narelle is forecast to strengthen during Saturday as it tracks quickly ​westwards," the bureau said, forecasting destructive winds of up to 185 kph (115 mph).

On ​Friday, Narelle made landfall ‌as a category four system, a rung short of the strongest, in ⁠neighbouring Queensland state about 550 km (340 miles) north of Cairns, the gateway to the Great Barrier ⁠Reef tourist attraction. Weather officials later downgraded the storm as ​it moved inland.

Narelle comes after Tropical Cyclone Fina hit the Northern Territory in November and conjured up painful ‌memories of Cyclone Tracy that wiped out much of the region's ‌capital Darwin on Christmas Day 1974. Tracy killed ⁠66 people in ‌what was one ​of Australia's worst natural disasters.

(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Tom ‌Hogue)



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