Relief as Australia mops up from giant cyclone

Australians voiced relief and surprise after one of the world's most powerful cyclones spared the nation's northeast coast from expected devastation on Thursday, with no reported deaths despite winds tearing off roofs and toppling trees.

Cyclone Yasi, roughly the size of Italy and packing winds of up to around 300 km per hour (186 miles per hour) and waves up to 30 feet, threatened Australia with its second major natural disaster in as many months this week but ended up missing heavily populated areas.

The massive cyclone, which hit at midnight (2am GMT), missed major population centers of Cairns and Townsville, making landfall at the smaller coastal communities of Mission Beach, Cardwell and Tully.

"It's amazing no-one was killed. The wind was howling like a banshee," said farmer Nathan Fisher, speaking out the window of his four-wheel-drive vehicle as he returned to his property from a shelter in the small town of Innisfail.

Australia, a vast continent with less than three people for every square km, is one of the few countries where a storm as large and terrifying as Yasi -- with a diameter of up to around 500 km (310 miles) -- could simply miss major cities.

Even as Yasi began its 1,000 km (620 mile) inland march into the outback on Thursday, weakening all the time, tracking forecasts showed it was likely to hit only a handful of small towns in a region home to around 400,000 people.

The lack of any major damage or substantial casualties was also attributed to several days of cyclone preparation, early evacuations, laws that ensure newer homes and buildings are strong enough to survive a cyclone, and less than expected sea flooding as the cyclone missed the peak tides.

The cyclone came ashore along hundreds of km of coast in Queensland state and then drove inland, bringing heavy rains to mining areas struggling to recover from recent devastating floods.

"Early reports have given us all a great sense of relief," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters, adding the cyclone emergency was still unfolding.

She said that in some places 90 per cent of homes had suffered serious structural damage and he region faced a long and arduous recovery.

"Some people in this region will be going back to their communities, going back to their neighborhoods, and facing scenes of considerable devastation. 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."

Yasi was rated a maximum-strength category five storm, on a par with Hurricane Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans in 2005, killing 1,500 people and causing $81 billion in damage. (At right: Yasi's eye at category 5)

It was downgraded to a category-two storm as it moved inland but its core remained very destructive, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

The destruction wrought by Yasi is likely to make life in north Queensland very difficult in the coming days and weeks. Flooding resulting from heavy rain and fallen trees had cut major roads and rail lines and power was down to 180,000 buildings. Due to damage to infrastructure, residents of Townsville, which is home to 180,000 people, were asked to ration water use.

Ron Darlington, resident of Tully, where 90 per cent of buildings were damaged, said the scenes at dawn were "unbelievable". "There is not a blade of grass, there is not a leaf on a tree, the power lines are down, most of the roads are blocked, every single house has been damaged."

Noelene Byrne, also in Tully, said it looked like "bombs have come through and destroyed everything".

The biggest impact could be on the economy. Many sugarcane crops have been totally destroyed by Cyclone Yasi, as the industry fears losses of up to $500 million.

Reports from the worst-hit town of Tully and its surrounding area indicate some farms have been wiped out by the category five tropical cyclone, industry body Canegrowers said today.

"Many sugarcane growers in far north Queensland have lost everything - house, crop, machinery and livelihood - during the devastating force of cyclone Yasi," chief executive Steve Greenwood said.

While Tully, Mission Beach and Cardwell appear the worst hit, destruction has also occurred between Cairns and Townsville, an area in which almost one third of Australia's sugarcane is grown.

The full damage to crops is still being assessed, but first indications show up to half the region's sugar crop has been affected, Mr Greenwood said.

The full extent of damage is likely to be more clear over the coming days, although the impact of the storm will not be completely known until harvesting begins mid-year, he said.

Due to the nature of sugarcane production, the impact of Yasi on the industry is likely to be felt over several years. Australia is the world's third largest raw sugar exporter.

Banana plantations fared no better than sugar cane plantations. Some banana plantations were destroyed and under water after Yasi went through; in other banana plantations the trees were uprooted and knocked over. Full damage assessment has not yet been completed.

Some coal mines remained shut after the cyclone passed, although others were starting to resume operations. Queensland accounts for 90 percent of Australia's steel making coal exports.

TOURIST AREAS HIT, TREES SNAPPED

The eye of the cyclone crossed the coast near the tourist town of Mission Beach, where devastating Cyclone Larry struck in 2006, and damaged areas around Tully and Cardwell, where many older homes, built before tougher building codes were applied, suffered severe damage.

Authorities said initial reports suggested only about 100 houses had suffered major damage. There were no initial reports of serious injuries although two people were reported as missing in Innisfail.

Hills around Tully were covered in snapped trees and scoured almost clean of vegetation by the force of the wind. The main road into Tully was flooded and several houses had roofs torn off, with crumpled tin lying in flooded fields.

At Innisfail, Bill Biscow stood in flood waters and cleaned up roofing shredded by the storm. "It was scary, but the damage is not as bad as last time when the place got flattened. Cyclone Larry probably blew away the oldest buildings."

In the coastal hamlet of Cowley Beach, steel roofs were torn from houses and twisted around power poles.

"I've been in the area for a long time and I've seen many of these, but this one is the biggest I've ever seen," said 84-year-old Robert Hurst, cleaning up his still-intact house.

A weather bureau spokesman said a storm surge of two meters (six feet) above normal tides had inundated one stretch of coast but the surges were not as severe as authorities had feared.

The cyclone had cut electricity to around 200,000 homes, but main links to the power grid remained intact.

Queensland has had a cruel summer, with floods sweeping across it and other eastern states in recent months, killing 35 people and causing damage estimated at $10 billion or more.

Source:
Reuters,"Relief as Australia mops up from giant cyclone", accessed February 2, 2011
News.com.au, "Cyclone Yasi devastates sugar industry", accessed February 2, 2011
The Telegraph, "Cyclone Yasi: preparation saved thousands of lives", accessed February 2, 2011

Australia's north braces for massive cyclone

Australia's flood-stricken state of Queensland (left) closed major coal ports, evacuated tourists from vulnerable resorts and warned of heavy rain on Monday ahead of a massive cyclone due to slam into its coast this week.

Forecasters said Cyclone Yasi could be generating gales of more than 250 kph when it hits the coast on Wednesday or Thursday, which would put it on a par with Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.

Yasi is expected to hit Queensland just days after another tropical storm struck the state. Cyclone Anthony hit the coast early Monday morning and quickly weakened from 80 mph (130 kph) winds to a tropical low. The storm uprooted trees and knocked down power lines in some areas but spared communities any major damage.

"This is a very serious threat," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters. "It may be one of the largest and most significant cyclones we've ever had to deal with."

Tropical cyclone Yasi, which formed in the Coral Sea, is emerging as a triple threat to Queensland's highly populated north coast, bringing with it destructive winds, storm surge and heavy rains. Officials are prompting evacuations and are warning that the storm could be the worst the already-swamped region has ever seen.

Weather bureau meteorologist Gordon Banks rated the developing system off Fiji as very dangerous.

Mr Banks said it would move slowly inland, a situation that tended to bring flood rains. "It's developing strongly near Vanuatu and we don't expect it to lose too much strength as it moves towards the coast," Mr Banks said. "If it is as strong as the models suggest, category three or better, heavy rain could potentially affect the interior on Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

Mr Banks said the cyclone was expected to come ashore in the north, but because it was so early in its development, nowhere between Princess Charlotte Bay on Cape York and Fraser Island in the southeast could be ruled out.

Currently, however, the cyclone is expected to cross the coast between Innisfail and Proserpine -- with Queensland's northern capital of Townsville directly in its path (left) -- overnight on Wednesday as a Category 2 system, bringing wind gusts of up to 275km/h and heavy rain.

Authorities are also extremely concerned about possible storm surges and flooding, advising residents in low-lying waterfront areas to relocate to higher ground.

Queensland disaster coordinator Ian Stewart yesterday warned north Queensland residents used to tropical cyclones not to underestimate the system.

"Relocation should be considered by people in low-lying areas. This is a very, very serious threat to the safety of our coastline and the safety of our community," he said.

The coastal region is home to more than 310,000 people, including Queensland's second-largest city of Townsville, with 180,000 people, and the growth hub of Mackay, population 80,000. But the coastline is also dotted with towns of just under 10,000 people, including Innisfail, Ayr and Bowen, and towns with between 3000 and 5000 people, including Ingham, Mission Beach, Tully, Home Hill and Proserpine.

Winds of more than 100km/h will buffet the area by mid-morning tomorrow.

Strong building codes have been in place since the 1960s in north Queensland, in a bid to ensure properties are better protected against cyclones and authorities have advised residents -- other than people in low-lying waterfront areas -- to remain in their homes. Heavy rain, including predictions of dumps of more than a meter, will spread south and inland from where Yasi crosses the coast, and is expected to inundate already sodden catchments of the central highlands. (At right: people in low lying areas wade out of flooding from earlier in year)

Queensland, which accounts for about a fifth of Australia's economy and 90 percent of its exports of steel making coal, has borne the brunt of a cruel summer, with floods having swept across the eastern seaboard in the past month, killing at least 35 people.

Cyclone Anthony then Cyclone Yasi

Queensland is also home to Australia's sugar industry, (left: sugar cane fields being harvested) which was also hurt by the floods and now risks being battered by the cyclone.

The floods swamped around 30,000 homes, destroyed roads and rail lines (right) and crippled Queensland's coal industry, with up to 15 million tons of exports estimated to have been delayed into the second half of this year.

Queensland's coal mines are mostly well inland and unlikely to be smashed by Cyclone Yasi, but they could be drenched again by heavy rain. The mines are still struggling to pump water out of their pits.

The Queensland Resources Council has estimated that the state's coal miners would take until March to return to normal but warned on Monday of further delays because of cyclones.

"If we get any more rain, it's just going to stretch out that time frame," council spokeswoman Caroline Morrissey said.

"The problem is we have got water in the pits, the mine dams are full and to pump water out of the pits they need to pump the water into the mine dams and there is no room for the water."

Cyclone Yasi is expected to classified "category 4" by the time it reaches the coast. That is the second-highest category and would be around the same strength as Hurricane Katrina and the strongest to hit Australia since early 2006.

Cyclone Yasi, currently in the southwest Pacific, is expected to make landfall near the northeast military town of Townsville with wind gusts of 200 to 260 kph, but with damaging winds along more than 1,000 km (620 miles) of coastline.

Australia's largest export terminal for coking coal, Dalrymple Bay (at left), had already suspended operations on Sunday because of an earlier cyclone, now passed. It decided on Monday to remain closed with the rapid approach of Yasi.

A poll of analysts last week showed Queensland would lose 11.3 million tons in coking coal output in 2011, equal to almost 5 percent of world exports. Most analysts believed miners would take until end-March to return to normal.

No sugar ships are currently in the major export terminal of Mackay, Australia's biggest sugar export port (right) which can handle up to 3 million tons a year. Most of the sugar from last harvest has already been shipped.

Source:
Reuters, "Australia's north braces for massive cyclone", accessed January 31, 2011
The Australian, "Cyclone Yasi a triple threat to Queensland's north coast", accessed January 31, 2011