Monster cyclone Yasi smashes Australia

A MASSIVE cyclone crashed into northeastern Australia yesterday, ripping roofs from buildings and cutting power to thousands of homes, but leaving the scale of disaster unknown as officials and residents holed up while the tempest raged.

Yasi is a maximum strength category five storm and has drawn comparisons with Hurricane Katrina which wrecked New Orleans in 2005.

The Bureau of Meteorology said the destructive core of Cyclone Yasi hit the coast at the small resort town of Mission Beach in Queensland state. Dozens of other cities and towns in the region — known to tourists worldwide as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef — were being battered by heavy rain and winds forecasters said could reach gusts of 186 mph (300 kph).

Witnesses reported seeing roofs ripped off, buildings shaking and trees flattened under the power of the winds. Officials said the storm would cause the sea to surge inland and flood some places to roof level.

The storm will compound misery in Queensland, which has already been hit by months of flooding that killed 35 people and inundated hundreds of communities. The storm struck an area north of the flood zone, but the weather bureau said it would bring drenching rains that could cause floods in new parts of the state.

More than 10,000 people fled to 20 evacuation centres set up in a danger zone stretching 190 miles (300km), amid strong warnings in the past two days. Many others moved in with family or friends in safer locations. Still, authorities were preparing for devastation, and likely deaths.

The storm’s front was about 650 kilometres across, and the worst of the winds were expected to lash the coast for up to four hours, although blustery conditions and heavy rain could last for 24 hours.

“This is a cyclone of savagery and intensity,” Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in a nationally televised news conference as the storm moved toward the coast. “People are facing some really dreadful hours in front of them.”

The damage would not be known until first light, officials said.

In the city of Cairns, about 120km north of Mission Beach, dozens of guests at a waterfront hotel took cover in the central ballroom as lights flickered. Staff members pinned curtains shut over windows that were in danger of shattering and handed out flashlights.

Tourist Barbara Maskei, 49, of Germany, lay on the ballroom floor under a sheet reading a book, as her 20-year-old daughter, Annette, and husband, Peter, dozed beside her. For her, there would be no sleep. “I like to keep my eyes open,” she said as the wind roared outside.

Staff attempted to distract people from the storm roaring outside by playing the movie Music and Lyrics on a giant screen. Some people attempted to sleep through the noise of the movie, wailing children and loud conversations about everything from cricket to the storm.

In Innisfail, a town about 90 km south of Cairns that was nearly in the direct path of the storm, Mayor Bill Shannon said he saw the roof torn off a building near the local government building where some 500 people are sheltering.

“We’re just hoping and praying we can all get through the night,” Shannon said.

In nearby Tully, resident Ross Sorbello described feeling his house shake from the wind. “The wind and rain outside are howling; it’s a horrible sound,” he said.

Storm surges of at least 6.5 feet were likely and would almost certainly flood some coastal communities, the Bureau of Meteorology said, adding that up to 28 inches of rain could fall within hours in some areas.

At highest risk was an area about 240 km long between Cairns and the sugar cane-growing town of Ingham, the bureau said. The storm was forecast to continue inland at cyclone strength for two days, though gradually weakening. It was unclear what the damage to the Great Barrier Reef would be.

Winds knocked out power to about 90,000 homes, a number expected to rise.

Still, many in the storm’s path were stoic. Cairns resident Jane Alcorn banned those who planned to shelter with her in the garage of her apartment complex from panicking.

“There’s no crying, no hysterics,” said Alcorn, 42. “It’s going to be loud, it’s going to be scary. But we’ve got each other.”

“It’s such a big storm — it’s a monster, killer storm,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said, adding that the only previous storm measured in the state at such strength was in 1918.

“This impact is likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations,” she said.