After Indonesia left devastated; Cyclone Seroja causes 'widespread damage' in Australia towns

Indonesian Navy personnel load relief supplies for people affected by Tropical Cyclone Seroja onto the KRI Semarang (594) landing platform dock ship at Dermaga port in Surabaya. - AFP

SYDNEY April 12 (AFP): Two small Western Australian towns suffered "widespread damage" when Cyclone Seroja struck a part of the country that rarely experiences tropical storms, emergency services said 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".