CAIRNS - One of the most powerful cyclones on record began pounding Australia's northeast coast, threatening popular tourist cities and people scrambling to find refuge after police turned them away from overcrowded shelters.
CAIRNS - One of the most powerful cyclones on record began pounding Australia's northeast coast, threatening popular tourist cities and people scrambling to find refuge after police turned them away from overcrowded shelters.
Cyclone Yasi, packing winds of up to 300km an hour near its core, started to come ashore along hundreds of kilometres of coastline last night, giving a foretaste of a storm centre described by authorities as "terrifying".
Satellite images showed Yasi as a massive storm system covering an area bigger than Italy, with the cyclone predicted to be the strongest ever to hit Australia.
Yasi is a maximum-strength category five storm, on a par with Hurricane Katrina which wrecked New Orleans in 2005. Its centre was expected to hit land a little after midnight.
Mines, rail lines and coal ports have all shut down, with officials warning the storm could drive inland for hundreds of kilometres, hitting rural and mining areas still struggling to recover after months of devastating floods.
"Tonight we need to brace ourselves for what we might find when we wake up tomorrow," Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said.
"Without doubt, we are set to encounter scenes of devastation and heartbreak on an unprecedented scale. This is like nothing else we've dealt with before as a nation."
Selwyn Hughes, turned away from a shopping centre acting as a shelter, stood with his family in the centre's uncovered car park and said his only comfort for the moment was in numbers.
"There are so many of us here. Surely they have to do something, find somewhere safer to move us to before it arrives," he said, squatting on a pink suitcase with his five children, aged two to 13.
Engineers warned that Yasi could even blow apart "cyclone proof" homes when its centre moved overland, despite building standards designed to protect homes from the growing number of giant storms.
Bligh said the cyclone could batter the state for up to three days as it moves inland and slowly weakens. She said 37000 homes have already lost electricity.
The greatest threat to life will likely come from surges of water forecast at up to seven metres above normal high tide levels in the worst-affected coastal areas.
Waves of 6,6metre have already been recorded about 20km out from Townsville.
More than 400000 people live in the cyclone's path, including the cities of Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.
The entire stretch is popular with tourists and includes the Great Barrier Reef. It is home to major coal and sugar ports.
In Townsville alone, the storm surge could flood up to 30000 homes, according to the town's web site.
The tourist hub of Cairns also expects its city centre to be flooded. The military is helping evacuate nearly 40000 people from low-lying coastal areas, and from the two hospitals in Cairns.
Yasi threatened to inflate world sugar, copper and coal prices, forcing a copper refinery to close and paralysing sugar and coal exports. It even prompted a major mining community at Mount Isa to go on cyclone alert.
Global miners BHP Billiton and Peabody Energy have shut several coal mines located in Queensland ahead of the cyclone, an official for the union representing Queensland coal miners said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has put 4000 soldiers based in the garrison town of Townsville on stand-by to help once the cyclone passes, as well as military ships and helicopters. - Reuters
Aussies told to flea from giant cyclone Yasi
CAIRNS - One of the most powerful cyclones on record began pounding Australia's northeast coast, threatening popular tourist cities and people scrambling to find refuge after police turned them away from overcrowded shelters.
CAIRNS - One of the most powerful cyclones on record began pounding Australia's northeast coast, threatening popular tourist cities and people scrambling to find refuge after police turned them away from overcrowded shelters.
Cyclone Yasi, packing winds of up to 300km an hour near its core, started to come ashore along hundreds of kilometres of coastline last night, giving a foretaste of a storm centre described by authorities as "terrifying".
Satellite images showed Yasi as a massive storm system covering an area bigger than Italy, with the cyclone predicted to be the strongest ever to hit Australia.
Yasi is a maximum-strength category five storm, on a par with Hurricane Katrina which wrecked New Orleans in 2005. Its centre was expected to hit land a little after midnight.
Mines, rail lines and coal ports have all shut down, with officials warning the storm could drive inland for hundreds of kilometres, hitting rural and mining areas still struggling to recover after months of devastating floods.
"Tonight we need to brace ourselves for what we might find when we wake up tomorrow," Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said.
"Without doubt, we are set to encounter scenes of devastation and heartbreak on an unprecedented scale. This is like nothing else we've dealt with before as a nation."
Selwyn Hughes, turned away from a shopping centre acting as a shelter, stood with his family in the centre's uncovered car park and said his only comfort for the moment was in numbers.
"There are so many of us here. Surely they have to do something, find somewhere safer to move us to before it arrives," he said, squatting on a pink suitcase with his five children, aged two to 13.
Engineers warned that Yasi could even blow apart "cyclone proof" homes when its centre moved overland, despite building standards designed to protect homes from the growing number of giant storms.
Bligh said the cyclone could batter the state for up to three days as it moves inland and slowly weakens. She said 37000 homes have already lost electricity.
The greatest threat to life will likely come from surges of water forecast at up to seven metres above normal high tide levels in the worst-affected coastal areas.
Waves of 6,6metre have already been recorded about 20km out from Townsville.
More than 400000 people live in the cyclone's path, including the cities of Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.
The entire stretch is popular with tourists and includes the Great Barrier Reef. It is home to major coal and sugar ports.
In Townsville alone, the storm surge could flood up to 30000 homes, according to the town's web site.
The tourist hub of Cairns also expects its city centre to be flooded. The military is helping evacuate nearly 40000 people from low-lying coastal areas, and from the two hospitals in Cairns.
Yasi threatened to inflate world sugar, copper and coal prices, forcing a copper refinery to close and paralysing sugar and coal exports. It even prompted a major mining community at Mount Isa to go on cyclone alert.
Global miners BHP Billiton and Peabody Energy have shut several coal mines located in Queensland ahead of the cyclone, an official for the union representing Queensland coal miners said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has put 4000 soldiers based in the garrison town of Townsville on stand-by to help once the cyclone passes, as well as military ships and helicopters. - Reuters
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