By Rob Taylor and Ed Davies; editing by Dean Yates
Wed Feb 2, 2011 4:13am IST CAIRNS, Australia (Reuters) – Thousands of residents fled their homes and crammed into shelters in northeastern Australia as a cyclone described as the most powerful in the country’s history and with a 650 km (400 mile) wide front barreled toward the coastline on Wednesday. “We are facing a storm of catastrophic proportions,” Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said after Cyclone Yasi was upgraded to a maximum-strength category five storm. It is expected to hit the coast on Wednesday evening, packing winds in excess of 280 km (175 miles) per hour. The weather bureau predicted it would be the strongest ever to hit Australia, Sky TV reported. “All aspects of this cyclone are going to be terrifying and potentially very very damaging,” Bligh added, noting the greatest threat to life could come from storm surges along the coast with the system due to hit when the tide is high. … “We are terrified. We have had almost no information and have never seen storms like this,” said Marlim Flagar, 20, from Sweden. At a sprawling shopping centre on the outskirts of Cairns, hundreds of people streamed into a makeshift shelter, carrying backpacks, blankets and food. “We’ve bought tinned food and cucumbers. That’s all we could find this morning,” said Natalie Zerbach, on holiday from Germany. … Queensland, which accounts for about a fifth of Australia’s economy and 90 percent of steelmaking coal exports worth about $20 billion a year, has had a cruel summer, with floods sweeping the eastern seaboard in recent months, killing 35 people.

Australians flee, jam shelters ahead of “catastrophic” cyclone