SYDNEY, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Schools have been closed and residents told to stay in place after Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle made landfall in northeast Australia on Friday morning.

Tropical Cyclone Narelle crossed the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula in the state of Queensland around 7:30 a.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (2130 GMT on Thursday) as a Category 4 storm after dropping from Category 5 intensity in the early hours of Friday.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said that the cyclone was expected to bring very destructive wind gusts exceeding 250 km per hour as well as intense rainfall and damaging waves that may cause flash flooding.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday morning, Queensland Premier David Crisfaulli urged people in the sparsely-populated region to brace for the storm.

"We have prepared, you have prepared. The best place for you to remain right now is exactly where you are," he said.

Crisafulli said that there is a chance that the eye of the storm could pass directly over the town of Coen, about 370 km south of the Australian mainland's northernmost point at Cape York.

"If this occurs, people will feel great intensity and then a lag. It's really important people don't leave their homes as this occurs because the back end of that system will be very, very intense as it goes through," he said.

Coen had a population of 320 people at the time of the last national census in 2021.

Crisafulli said that all 14 schools in the region have been closed and additional swift water rescue teams, ambulances and health professionals have been deployed.

Warning that the region will experience a significant loss of electricity through Friday, he said crews would start work to restore power as soon as it is safe to do so. ■