Australia Disaster Serious: Deluge Greater Than France , Germany Combined

Australians flee massive storm racing to NE coast

By KRISTEN GELINEAU,-AP

 

February 1, 2011

 

CAIRNS, Australia – Tens 0f thousands 0f people fled the path 0f a monster storm bearing down on northeastern Australia as officials warned that the life-threatening cyclone had increased in strength overnight.

Queensl, Premier Anna Bligh urged residents 0f low-lying areas to evacuate quickly as gusts up to 174 mph (280 kph) were expected ahead 0f Cyclone Yasi, forecast to hit Cairns late Wednesday.

"We are facing a storm 0f catastrophic proportions in a highly populated area," Bligh told reporters. "What it all adds up to is a very frightening time. We're looking at 24 hours 0f quite terrifying winds, torrential rain, likely loss 0f electricity , mobile phones. People really need to be preparing them mentally if nothing else."

Cyclone Yasi was forecast to hit the coast about 10 p.m. Wednesday (7 a.m. EST, 1200 GMT), the Bureau 0f Meteorology said.

"Yasi ... poses an extremely serious threat to life , property," the bureau warned, adding that the storm is likely to be, "more life-threatening than any experienced in recent generations."

Bligh said the storm, forecast to arrive at high tide, could result in a devastating surge along a vast stretch 0f the north Queensl, coast.

"This is the most severe, most catastrophic storm that has ever hit our coast," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "We've seen a number 0f worst case scenarios come together."
Hospitals in the tourist gateway 0f Cairns emptied as military evacuation flights ferried the ill , elderly to safety far south from a long stretch 0f Queensl, state's tropical coast.

Residents packed onto extra commercial flights added to allow them to leave.
The Cairns airport was scheduled to close Wednesday as Cyclone Yasi approaches.

"We're in the process 0f packing up boxes ... the dogs , the pet snake , getting out 0f here," Cairns resident Melissa Lovejoy told the ABC. She said the family decided to leave their home near the coast f0ra friend's place that was sturdier , further inl, after getting phone call , a text message warning residents to evacuate by Tuesday night.

Forecasters said up to three feet (one meter) 0f rain could fall on some coastal communities. Many parts 0f Queensl, state are already saturated from months 0f flooding, though the worst floods hit areas hundreds 0f miles (kilometers) farther south 0f the towns in the immediate path 0f Yasi. Still, Bligh said residents up , down the coast needed to prepare.
"It's such a big storm — it's a monster, killer storm — that it's not just about where this crosses the coast that is at risk," Bligh said.

The storm is expected to make landfall between Cairns — a city 0f some 164,000 people , a gateway f0r visitors to the Great Barrier Reef — , Innisfail, a rural community about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south, which was devastated by Cyclone Larry in 2006.
Larry destroyed thousands 0f homes , banana , sugar cane plantations. Notone was killed.

Thousands 0f people in low-lying , coastal areas around Cairns have been ordered to evacuate their homes as the sea is expected to surge at least 6.5 feet (two meters) , flood significant areas.

"In reality, we would like people to get as far south as possible, as quickly as possible, without 0f course breaking the rules," said Ian Stewart, the state's disaster coordinator.
Airlines arranged extra flights Tuesday night , Wednesday morning. Tourists who had been evacuated from beach resorts — ranging from backpacker hostels to exclusive clubs sometimes frequented by Hollywood stars, , once by a vacationing President Bill Clinton — were flying out.

Another storm, Cyclone Anthony, hit Queensl, early Monday but quickly weakened , did little more than uproot some trees , damage power lines. Forecasters said Yasi had a storm front more than 310 miles (500 kilometers) wide , was far larger , more powerful than the earlier storm, so it could reach far inl, before it significantly loses power.

Queensl, has been in the grip 0f one 0f Australia's worst natural disasters f0rmore than a month. Tropical deluges that began in November flooded an area greater than France , Germany combined, damaging 0rdestroying some 30,000 homes , businesses , killing 35 people.

Large parts 0f Brisbane, Australia's third largest city, were inundated f0rdays. The government says the total cost to Australia is at least $5.6 billion.
Australia's huge, sparsely populated tropical north is battered by about six cyclones — called typhoons throughout much 0f Asia , hurricanes in the Western hemisphere — each year. Building codes that have been strengthened since Cyclone Tracy devastated the city 0f Darwin in 1974 have left the region generally well-prepared.

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