Canberra, Nov 23 (IANS) The Australian government said on Sunday that it is ready to support the Northern Territory (NT) after Tropical Cyclone Fina hit the city of Darwin on Saturday night.
Kristy McBain, Australia’s minister for emergency management, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday that the federal government was working with the NT government to provide support, including any requests for funding from the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) on Sunday morning downgraded its warning for Darwin, the Tiwi Islands and surrounding areas as the cyclone moved southwest over the southern Timor Sea, reports Xinhua news agency.
The cyclone caused damage to buildings and power outages across the city, but as of Sunday morning, there had been no reported injuries, local media said.
The bureau said that Fina is forecast to remain a severe tropical cyclone on Sunday as it moves southwest through the southern Timor Sea. It will start weakening on Monday as it nears the northern coast of Western Australia.
The BOM said on Friday that the cyclone, currently a category 1 cyclone, is moving slowly south-southwest and is expected to strengthen to a category 2 system whilst tracking southwest during the day.
It said the storm is approaching the Cobourg Peninsula, the northernmost point of the mainland NT, about 200 km northeast of Darwin, and the Tiwi Islands and will move over the area on Friday night, before continuing southwest through the Van Diemen Gulf on Saturday.
Fina is forecast to further intensify to a severe tropical cyclone on Sunday afternoon in the southern Timor Sea. There continues to remain a chance that it could reach category 3 intensity earlier, during late Friday or early Saturday, as it moves into the Van Diemen Gulf, the bureau added.
A cyclone warning issued by the BoM said that the storm may bring wind gusts of up to 155 km per hour and heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding in Darwin, the Tiwi Islands and Cobourg Peninsula.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday afternoon, NT Emergency Service chief officer Wayne Snell said that there are currently no plans to evacuate any communities in the NT due to Fina, but that residents of the Greater Darwin area should enact their emergency plan and be prepared to look after themselves for the next three days.
