Australia’s Northern Territory braces for Tropical Cyclone Narelle impact

SYDNEY: 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). Tropical storm makes landfall near Philippine capital, work suspended 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.