Australians brace for cyclone rivalling Hurricane Katrina

AUSTRALIA evacuated thousands of people from its northeast coast yesterday as a cyclone rivalling Hurricane Katrina bore down on tourism towns and rural communities, with officials saying it could even threaten areas deep inland that were ruined by floods last month.

Mines, rail lines and coal ports were closed in Queensland state as Cyclone Yasi headed toward the coast. Up to a third of Australia’s sugar crop was also under threat, officials said.

“This storm is huge and life threatening,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said, warning the system was intensifying and picking up speed on its path from the Coral Sea.

Cyclone Yasi is expected to generate winds of up to 280kph and bring heavy rain when it hits the northern coast of tropical Queensland state later today, matching the strength of Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.

The Bureau of Meteorology upgraded Yasi to a category four storm and said its destructive winds would pose a serious threat. Sea levels would rise significantly as it crossed the coast, the bureau said on its website.

With a strong monsoon feeding Yasi’s 650km wide front, the storm was also expected to maintain its intensity long after smashing into the coast and could sweep inland as far as the outback mining city of Mount Isa, 900 km inland.

More than 400,000 people live in the cyclone’s expected path, which includes the cities of Cairns, Townsville and Mackay, which are also main tourist areas and take in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

The military was evacuating nearly 40,000 people from low-lying coastal areas overnight, officials said.

Reuters