/ 3 February 2011

Australia reels from once-in-a-century cyclone

Australia Reels From Once In A Century Cyclone

Australia’s biggest cyclone in a century shattered entire towns after striking the coast and churning across the vast country on Thursday, but officials expressed relief that no one was killed.

Terrified residents emerged to check the damage after Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi hit land at around midnight, packing winds of up to 290km per hour, in a region still reeling from record floods.

Queensland state premier Anna Bligh warned that 90% of the main street in the small town of Tully, south of Cairns, had “extensive damage”, while the coastal community of Cardwell suffered “significant devastation”.

“Some people will be going back into their communities … and facing scenes of considerable devastation,” Bligh said.

“There are people now that have lost their homes, they lost their farms, they have lost their crops and they have lost their livelihoods and I have no doubt that many of them will experience a great sense of despair.”

Regional hub Cairns, a centre for foreign tourists visiting the Great Barrier Reef, was spared Yasi’s worst with problems largely restricted to fallen trees and minor damage to buildings.

‘Still not safe’
But in small towns further south, families cowered as roofs were ripped from homes, and some 10 500 people huddled in makeshift evacuation centres as the storm raged with a din likened to a jet engine or an express train.

“We were sitting at the kitchen table, we heard a ripping and off came the roof,” said Scott Torrens (37) who was sheltering with his wife, three children and father-in-law in the family home near Innisfail.

“Before we knew about it, it was gone. It happened that quick,” Torrens told Agence France-Presse.

Bligh said no deaths or serious injuries were immediately reported, adding that much of the region would be breathing a “sigh of relief” following dire predictions of widespread catastrophic damage.

But she warned that a full picture was yet to emerge from a group of worst-hit towns, where communications and road access remained difficult.

“It’s a long way to go before I say we’ve dodged any bullets. It is still not safe out on any of those streets … many injuries and fatalities can occur after the cyclone has passed,” she said.

‘The danger is not over’
The maximum-category five storm, reportedly large enough to cover most of the United States and with winds stronger than Hurricane Katrina, follows widespread flooding that left much of the state under water.

Authorities warned residents to stay in their homes to avoid a second storm surge along the coast and fallen power lines, as strong winds howled. Yasi was downgraded to category two but threatened more towns as it blew inland.

“Surging tides, powerlines that are down, flooding danger and there are some parts of Queensland that are bracing for the cyclone to come across land and to still hit,” said Prime Minister Julia Gillard of the ongoing disaster.

“People cannot let their guard down yet. The danger is not over.”

Queensland premier Bligh said Tully’s hospital had lost its roof, although its seven patients were safe. Tully cane farmer Vince Silvestro said the country town resembled a war zone.

Queensland still battling
“There’s so much damage it’s just incredible,” he told AAP news agency. “Our crops are completely destroyed … The countryside is completely stripped, the trees, even the hospital’s damaged.

“When I woke up it looked like what it would have looked like in World World II or something if the city had been bombed.”

The storm’s size and power dwarfed Cyclone Tracy, which hit the northern Australian city of Darwin in 1974, killing 71 people and flattening more than 90% of its houses.

It was also twice the size and far stronger than the category four Cyclone Larry that caused Aus$1,5-billion (Australia dollars) of damage after hitting agricultural areas around Innisfail, just south of Cairns, in 2006.

Queensland, a mining, farming and tourism hotspot, is still battling to recover from floods which left about three quarters of the sprawling state under water, even inundating large parts of its capital, Brisbane. — AFP