Australia evacuates coastal cities in path of Cyclone Yasi – Expected to be Category 4 storm by landfall
By Rob Taylor, Reuters
January 31, 2011 10:01 PM CANBERRA – Australia evacuated northeast coastal cities on Tuesday as a cyclone rivaling the strength of Hurricane Katrina bore down on tourism, sugar and coal mining areas and threatened areas already devastated by floods far inland. Cyclone Yasi is expected to generate winds of up to 280 kph when it hits the Queensland state coast early on Thursday (9 a.m. Wednesday ET) matching the strength of Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005. With a strong monsoon feeding Yasi’s 650 km-wide front, the storm was also expected to maintain its intensity long after crossing the coast and could sweep inland as far as the outback mining city of Mt Isa. “This storm is huge and life threatening,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told reporters, warning the storm was intensifying and picking up speed on its path from the Coral Sea, and destructive gales would begin from Wednesday morning. Queensland, which accounts for about a fifth of Australia’s economy and 90 per cent of steelmaking coal exports worth about $20.4 billion, has had a cruel summer, with floods having swept the eastern seaboard over the past month, killing 35 people. “There’s no time for complacency,” said Mike Brunker, mayor of the Whitsunday area which is known for its islands resorts close to the Great Barrier Reef. “People in low-lying areas are evacuating to friends and family or, if they have to, leave town,” he told local media. The popular tourist state, home also to the country’s main sugar industry, bore the brunt of the floods and now risks being battered by Yasi, which authorities said could be the most powerful tropical storm to ever strike the area. … “This is not a system that’s going to cross the coast and rapidly weaken out,” Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Gordon Banks said, warning winds could reach up to 280 kph and the storm could reach Mt Isa, 900 km inland. “We could see this system pushing well in across northern Queensland as a significant tropical cyclone with damaging winds and very heavy rainfall,” Banks said. … Bligh said Yasi could be the worst tropical storm the state had seen, with potential to cause powerful and deadly flash flooding in coastal areas. Most of the state’s major coal ports were temporarily closed to shipping. … Cyclone Yasi is expected to classified a “Category 4” by the time it reaches the coast, which would be the strongest to hit Australia since Cyclone Larry hit the town of Innisfail in 2006, leveling sugar crops and causing A$1.5 billion worth of damage.
