Two powerful cyclones smashed into northern Australia on Friday, knocking out power to thousands, tearing roofs and doors off houses and prompting coastal residents to flee their homes, but appeared to have spared the region earlier predictions of a “calamity.” The twin storms, dubbed the “cyclone sandwich” by locals, struck within hours of each other, about 2,500 kilometres apart. Cyclone lam hit a sparsely populated stretch of the Northern Territory, while the more powerful and potentially dangerous Cyclone Marcia crossed over small towns along the east coast of Queensland state, packing wind gusts up to 285 kilometers an hour. Despite the storms’ ferocious winds and drenching rains, no injuries had been reported by this afternoon, and both systems were steadily weakening as they moved over land.