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2 Major Cyclones Are Lashing 2 Parts Of Australia

Cyclones Lam and Marcia, before they made landfall in Australia on Thursday.
NOAA
Cyclones Lam and Marcia, before they made landfall in Australia on Thursday.

Two major tropical cyclones are affecting two different parts of Australia at the same time.

Cyclone Lam came ashore Thursday as a category 4 storm and Marcia is expected to make landfall as a category 5 storm with wind gusts of up to 177 mph.

Lam is lashing the Northern Territory, while Marcia is expected to make landfall in Queensland. If your Australian geography is failing you, here's a map from the Australian government's Bureau of Meteorology:

A map showing where Cyclones Lam and Marcia are located.
/ Australia's Bureau of Meteorology
/
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology
A map showing where Cyclones Lam and Marcia are located.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports that several thousand people on Elcho Island had already lost power because of the storm and the Aboriginal community of Warruwi was evacuated using helicopters.

On cyclone Marcia, ABC reports:

"In St Lawrence, hundreds of locals were asked to evacuate by police last night, and urgent evacuations were ordered in Yeppoon early this morning.

"Queensland Police said the emergency cyclone shelter at the St Lawrence bowls club had been shut down as it was not strong enough to handle the system."

The news site, news.com.au, reports that the Bureau of Meteorology has only recorded four other category 5 cyclones making landfall in Queensland.

"Cyclone Mahina in Princess Charlotte Bay in 1899, a cyclone in Mackay and another in Innisfail in 1918 (they didn't have names) and Cyclone Yasi in 2011," the site reports.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.