Tropical Cyclone Narelle Pummels Top End, Heads to Kimberley

0:00It's March 21st in Sydney. Let's get into the news. Tropical Cyclone Narelli, a category three storm, is pounding already soaked communities in northern Australia's top in region. It's making a coastal crossing early Sunday morning near Cape Shield, northwest of Groot Island, with sustained winds around 130 km per hour and gusts up to 185. The cyclone is tracking slowly across the top end as a tropical low through Sunday and Monday, bringing heavy, intense rainfall and damaging winds. Officials expect gusts up to 165 km per hour and more than 200 mm of rain in Gulf of Carpentaria towns and inland northern territory spots. Local residents say they're well prepared for the wet season onslaught, drawing on lessons from past storms. In Boralula, folks are used to flooding from earlier rains and while freight delivery space brief holdups, government efforts are keeping, essentials flowing to those areas.

1:01Flood warnings cover much of the top end, including Catherine and Daily Rivers, with patients evacuated from Catherine Hospital to avoid worsening. Floods. High sea levels could flood low-lying coastal zones and people are advised to shelter in the strongest interior rooms like bathrooms. As Narelli Drift South and West, Western Australia's Kimberly faces heavy rain by Monday, even as the system weakens. Meanwhile, Queensland crews are restoring power to over 1,000 homes on Cape York and delivering fuel to remote spots hit hard by fallen trees and damaged roofs.