Australian disaster crews tally damage from Cyclone Jasper

Disaster-response teams fanned out across northeastern Australia on Thursday, counting the cost of a tropical cyclone that flooded major highways, uprooted trees, and left 40,000 without power. Coastal regions were battered by damaging winds and swamped by flooded rivers as Tropical Cyclone Jasper barreled in off the Coral Sea on Wednesday evening. 

Although the storm was running out of steam by Thursday morning, government meteorologists warned it was still whipping up "intense rainfall and damaging wind gusts". State treasurer Cameron Dick said 40,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity on Thursday morning, including 25,000 in the resort city of Cairns. 

Floodwaters inundated the rural town of Mossman around midnight Wednesday after a swollen river burst its banks -- forcing a small number of evacuations.