Sydney:
With winds howling at up to 185 miles per hour, a huge cyclone made landfall in the predawn hours on Thursday along the coast of the already storm-battered state of Queensland, with widespread reports of property damage and power failures.
Thousands of people crammed into emergency shelters along the northeast coast on Wednesday seeking refuge from a storm that the National Weather Bureau had warned could be larger and "more life-threatening" than any in Australian history.
Witnesses told local news outlets of roofs' being blown off and trees flattened as the cyclone moved inland. Power was out in more than 170,000 homes, according to Ergon Energy, the region's main utility.
More than 400,000 people live in communities along the storm's 370-mile-long front, including in the cities of Cairns and Townsville, popular jumping-off sites for the Great Barrier Reef. As the storm approached on Wednesday, residents in low-lying coastal areas were urged to flee for higher ground.
There were no reports of fatalities or serious injuries by Thursday morning. The storm caused limited property damage in Cairns and Townsville, but some of the hardest-hit regions -- small coastal villages and inland farming communities -- were still isolated by floodwaters and fallen trees.
"We are breathing some sighs of relief this morning, but we stress that this is still very, very early," the Queensland State premier, Anna Bligh, told the Channel Ten news network. "There are a number of towns that took the full brunt where we don't yet have any assessment from any official source."
Early reports from the town of Tully, about 60 miles south of Cairns, suggested that many houses and businesses were damaged.
"It's just like weapons have come through, bombs have come through and destroyed everything," a Red Cross coordinator, Noelene Byrne, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Photos uploaded to local news Web sites by Tully residents showed houses ripped to shreds and sheets of corrugated tin roofing lying tangled in the town's main street.
The storm hit the coast near the village of Mission Beach at about midnight before pushing inland, dumping heavy rain over a large part of Queensland, which was already saturated from weeks of torrential downpours. The storm, Tropical Cyclone Yasi, had been categorized as a Category 5 storm, but was downgraded on Wednesday by the National Weather Bureau to Category 2.
Ms. Bligh said at a news conference on Wednesday evening that the "destructive core" of the cyclone had reached some areas of Queensland. She said the storm could remain over the state for two to three days, and she warned of the possibility of a second storm surge on Thursday morning.
More than 10,000 people sought refuge in about 20 emergency shelters, she said. Many of the larger shelters, including a shopping mall in downtown Cairns, were full by Wednesday afternoon. Residents were camped on the floor of some shelters and in some there was not enough food and bedding for everyone, according to local news reports.
Three babies were born overnight as the cyclone came ashore, the Queensland State Police said, including an infant girl who was delivered at one of the evacuation centers by a British midwife who was on vacation in Cairns.
The police said the atmosphere in Cairns and Townsville was mostly calm, with people evacuating in an orderly manner. Television images showed residents putting sandbags around their homes and crisscrossing packing tape across their windows to prevent glass from shattering. Many residents lined up early Wednesday to buy groceries and gasoline before shops were closed.
While cyclones are not uncommon on Australia's northern coast, officials at the national Bureau of Meteorology had warned that Cyclone Yasi could be the biggest, most destructive cyclone to strike the country since 1918. In an ominous warning issued on its Web site, the bureau warned that the storm was "likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations."
Several flights carrying tourists and residents fleeing the storm zone left Cairns and Townsville early Wednesday, before airports there were closed. Police officers and military personnel knocked on doors in many coastal areas warning people to leave. Military helicopters airlifted patients from the region's largest hospital, Cairns Base Hospital, on Tuesday.
Several mines, railroad lines and coal ports stopped operating as the cyclone approached. Forecasters warned that as much as three feet of rain could fall, creating the risk of flash flooding in a region already saturated from months of torrential rains.
Thousands of people crammed into emergency shelters along the northeast coast on Wednesday seeking refuge from a storm that the National Weather Bureau had warned could be larger and "more life-threatening" than any in Australian history.
Witnesses told local news outlets of roofs' being blown off and trees flattened as the cyclone moved inland. Power was out in more than 170,000 homes, according to Ergon Energy, the region's main utility.
More than 400,000 people live in communities along the storm's 370-mile-long front, including in the cities of Cairns and Townsville, popular jumping-off sites for the Great Barrier Reef. As the storm approached on Wednesday, residents in low-lying coastal areas were urged to flee for higher ground.
There were no reports of fatalities or serious injuries by Thursday morning. The storm caused limited property damage in Cairns and Townsville, but some of the hardest-hit regions -- small coastal villages and inland farming communities -- were still isolated by floodwaters and fallen trees.
"We are breathing some sighs of relief this morning, but we stress that this is still very, very early," the Queensland State premier, Anna Bligh, told the Channel Ten news network. "There are a number of towns that took the full brunt where we don't yet have any assessment from any official source."
Early reports from the town of Tully, about 60 miles south of Cairns, suggested that many houses and businesses were damaged.
"It's just like weapons have come through, bombs have come through and destroyed everything," a Red Cross coordinator, Noelene Byrne, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Photos uploaded to local news Web sites by Tully residents showed houses ripped to shreds and sheets of corrugated tin roofing lying tangled in the town's main street.
The storm hit the coast near the village of Mission Beach at about midnight before pushing inland, dumping heavy rain over a large part of Queensland, which was already saturated from weeks of torrential downpours. The storm, Tropical Cyclone Yasi, had been categorized as a Category 5 storm, but was downgraded on Wednesday by the National Weather Bureau to Category 2.
Ms. Bligh said at a news conference on Wednesday evening that the "destructive core" of the cyclone had reached some areas of Queensland. She said the storm could remain over the state for two to three days, and she warned of the possibility of a second storm surge on Thursday morning.
More than 10,000 people sought refuge in about 20 emergency shelters, she said. Many of the larger shelters, including a shopping mall in downtown Cairns, were full by Wednesday afternoon. Residents were camped on the floor of some shelters and in some there was not enough food and bedding for everyone, according to local news reports.
Three babies were born overnight as the cyclone came ashore, the Queensland State Police said, including an infant girl who was delivered at one of the evacuation centers by a British midwife who was on vacation in Cairns.
The police said the atmosphere in Cairns and Townsville was mostly calm, with people evacuating in an orderly manner. Television images showed residents putting sandbags around their homes and crisscrossing packing tape across their windows to prevent glass from shattering. Many residents lined up early Wednesday to buy groceries and gasoline before shops were closed.
While cyclones are not uncommon on Australia's northern coast, officials at the national Bureau of Meteorology had warned that Cyclone Yasi could be the biggest, most destructive cyclone to strike the country since 1918. In an ominous warning issued on its Web site, the bureau warned that the storm was "likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations."
Several flights carrying tourists and residents fleeing the storm zone left Cairns and Townsville early Wednesday, before airports there were closed. Police officers and military personnel knocked on doors in many coastal areas warning people to leave. Military helicopters airlifted patients from the region's largest hospital, Cairns Base Hospital, on Tuesday.
Several mines, railroad lines and coal ports stopped operating as the cyclone approached. Forecasters warned that as much as three feet of rain could fall, creating the risk of flash flooding in a region already saturated from months of torrential rains.
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