Ten thousands of people in Western Australia were without power on Monday after a rare tropical cyclone tore roofs from homes and destroyed flimsily built houses as it crossed the coast on Sunday night.

Officials said approximately 70 percent of the structures in the coastal town of Kalbarri, about 500km (310 miles) north of state capital Perth, were damaged when the category three storm made landfall with winds at speeds of as much as 170km/h.

WA Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said that, ‘About 30 percent of the damage was significant, the area had not seen such a cyclone in at least 40 years, local media reported.’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison posted on his official Facebook page that, ‘The situation in Western Australia remains very serious adding the federal government’s disaster response plan had been activated.’

The cyclone, named Seroja, was downgraded to a category two system after making landfall and finally moved back out to sea in the early afternoon, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) in Perth. Showers and gusty winds were expected to continue but not to be severe, later it added.

Photos on social media and local broadcasts showed fallen power cables, debris and houses stripped of roofs and walls. Western Australia state authorities opened three evacuation centres for displaced residents.

The region was on high alert for the storm, given that houses and other buildings were not constructed to withstand tropical cyclones, which usually do not occur so far south.