Cyclone Yasi upgraded to Category 4 – Landfall at 10pm Wednesday evening

Reporting by Janelle Miles, Peter Michael, Sarah Vogler, Brian Williams, Michael Madigan and Lizzie Stafford, The Courier-Mail
February 02, 2011 CYCLONE YASI has been upgraded to Category Four and is likely to cross the coast earlier than expected at 10pm Wednesday evening, according to the latest update from the Bureau of Meteorology. Cyclone Yasi is expected to cross just south of Cairns, in the latest update from the Bureau of Meteorology. Senior forecaster Rick Threlfall said while the area where the eye crosses is important, destructive winds will be felt up to 200km either side of it. “Where exactly it crosses is slightly irrelevant,” he said. “A large area either side is likely to see destructive or very destructive winds.” “Things are changing and will probably continue to change.” a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said. He said the intensity had increased with wind gusts of up to 260km/h expected, with this prediction even increasing slightly over the next few hours. … “Really destructive winds of up to 260km/h will develop during the evening as the cyclone gets closer,” the spokesman said. A cyclone warning is current for coastal areas from Cape Melville to Sarina, extending as far inland as east of Croyden to Hughenden. “Even as you go inland we will see very destructive winds,” a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said. “Even when it gets to places like George Town and Croyden we will still be seeing a category two, and cyclone watch as far as Mt Isa. “Even people well, well inland need to bear in mind this will be a significant system. “It will move quickly as it crosses the land but we’re still looking at flash flooding.” … More than 30,000 Queenslanders are being relocated in a desperate bid to protect them from the fury of Cyclone Yasi, as authorities brace for a massive assault on the state. … Residents in Port Douglas, Yorkeys Knob, Holloways Beach, Machans Beach and the Cairns CBD have been told to move to safety under the unprecedented mandatory evacuation plan. The area’s 190,000-plus population faces the dire threat of a deadly “tsunami-like” storm surge of up to 2.5m tipped to inundate waterfront homes and the CBD. … Hundreds of Cairns residents last night began fleeing up the Great Dividing Range to the Atherton Tablelands. … Entire supermarkets from Townsville to Cooktown have been emptied of supplies in a rush on panic-buying. Motorists filling up vehicles with fuel formed queues hundreds of metres long outside service stations. Power is likely to be cut for up to a week in some areas with the winds likely to damage powerlines and substations. …

30,000 evacuated from Cairns as city braces for a pounding from Cyclone Yasi