Strong winds and driving rain began buffeting north-east Australia today as one of the country’s biggest storms arrived.

Tens of thousands of Australians stockpiled food and waited in sturdy shelters today as a monster cyclone approached the north east coast with furious winds, rain and surging seas on a scale unseen in generations.

BUILT as a pair of matching semi-ds back in 1904 by the Cork Scott family of stevedores, this handsome red-brick Douglas duo catalogue a slice of suburban history in their century-plus of fine standing.

A tropical cyclone packing winds of up to 137 mph lashed Australia’s remote north-eastern coast today, a month after another storm left thousands in the region homeless.

Residents in remote north-eastern Australia are braced for the onslaught of a tropical cyclone today, bearing winds of up to 137mph, a month after another storm left thousands in the region homeless.

Prime minister John Howard toured cyclone-shattered regions of northern Australia today and announced a multi-million dollar package of low-interest loans and tax-free grants to help farmers and small businesses begin rebuilding.

TROOPS began delivering aid yesterday to an estimated 7,000 people who lost their homes to the cyclone that battered Australia's northeastern coast.

It was business as usual, almost, about 60 miles north of ground zero for one of the worst cyclones to hit Australia’s east coast in decades.

Troops began moving aid to the cyclone-shattered town of Innisfail today as residents picked through waterlogged streets littered with rubble and mangled roofs destroyed by one of Australia’s most powerful cyclones in decades.

A MASSIVE clean-up operation was underway yesterday after super cyclone Larry ripped through northern Queensland leaving behind a devastated landscape.

A powerful cyclone ripped roofs off buildings across Australia’s north-eastern coast today, packing winds up to 180 mph that wreaked havoc in coastal towns leaving an unknown number of people homeless but caused only a handful of injuries.

A massive cyclone tore off roofs and uprooted trees across Australia’s north-eastern coast today, packing winds so powerful that emergency workers were forced to stay indoors, despite pleas from terrified residents.

A POWERFUL tropical cyclone packing winds of up to 290km/h slammed into Australia’s north-eastern coast last night after more than 1,000 tourists and local residents were evacuated to higher ground, the weather bureau said.