Cyclone Seroja causes 'widespread damage' in Australia's west coast

A tropical cyclone offAustralia's west coast destroyed several homes and cut electricity to tens of thousands of people overnight before weakening in power on Monday.

The storm, which devastated parts of Indonesia and East Timor last week, brought lashing rain and winds of up to 170 kilometres per hour (105 mph) to areas officials said had not seen a tropical cyclone in "decades".

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Officials said around 70 per centof the structures in the coastal town of Kalbarri, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of state capital Perth, had sustained damage when the category three storm made landfall late on Sunday.

In Northampton, a town of less than 1,000 people about an hour's drive south, there was also "widespread damage", WesternAustralia's emergency services department said.

Tropical cyclone Seroja was downgraded after making landfall to a category two system and was forecast to continue to weaken throughout the day, although officials warned it would still bring potentially damaging wind gusts and heavy rain.

The region was on high alert for the storm, given that houses and other buildings were not constructed to withstand tropical cyclones, which usually do not push so far south.

Cyclone Seroja made landfall as a category 3 storm late Sunday,before crossing the continent's southwest and being downgraded to a tropical low Monday morning.

Tens of thousands of homes in WesternAustralia's Mid West region were left without power and a historic mile-long jetty in the town of Carnarvon was also destroyed.

The Bureau of Meteorology said it was the first cyclone to hit some affected areas since 1956.

Cyclone Seroja last week left more than 200 people dead in Indonesia and neighbouring East Timor, while thousands more were forced to flee their homes.

(With inputs from agencies)