CANBERRA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of people in Australia's Northern Territory (NT) have been left without power or drinkable water in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Marcus.
Residents of Darwin awoke to widespread damage on Sunday after the strongest cyclone to hit the city in 30 years swept through on Saturday.
Marcus passed directly through Darwin as a category two storm, bringing winds of up to 130 km per hour and heavy rainfall.
The storm, which diminished to a category one after hitting Darwin, has been upgraded to a category two again and is expected to cross Western Australia's Kimberley coastline on Sunday evening local time.
As many as 23,000 homes in Darwin were still without power as the clean-up began on Sunday.
There have been multiple reports of buildings and homes sustaining damage with some having had their roofs ripped off.
Fallen trees crashed through cars and houses but there have been no reports of serious injury.
"We do want you to go check in on your neighbours," NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner told reporters on Sunday.
"There has been a lot of community spirit already. I'm probably asking Top Enders to do what they've already done.
"We are going to get the territory up and running and open for business ASAP but we are operating on safety first."
NT Police regional controller Warren Jackson said that the direct threat of the storm had passed but said that the damage caused should act as a warning for what a stronger cyclone would do.
"I think this is a real wake-up call for Darwin given that it was in what we'd say is the lower end but it was a category two. You can see there was a significant amount of damage," Jackson said.
