Perth - One of the strongest cyclones ever to hit Australia is expected to cross the sparsely-populated north-west coast today. The weather has forced more than 800 residents in the West Australian town of Onslow to flee to cyclone shelters.
Cyclone Vance was upgraded by the Bureau of Meteorology to a severe Category 5 cyclone on an intensity scale of one to five, making it more powerful than Cyclone Tracy, which devastated Darwin in 1974 causing 60 deaths.