Winds, rain and heavy surf pummel Australian coast as tropical cyclone nears

Tropical Cyclone Jasper hit northeast Australia Wednesday, leaving thousands of people in coastal communities without power and preparing for potentially "life-threatening" floods.

The Category Two storm barrelled in off the Coral Sea, making landfall at around 5:00 pm local time on Wednesday. Damaging winds of up to 113 kilometres per hour were recorded as Jasper hit the coast, while meteorologists said pummeling rains could swamp some areas with flash flooding.