Cyclone expected to hit Australia’s northeast coast

CAIRNS, Australia – Tens of thousands of Australians stocked up on food and hunkered in sturdy shelters today as a monster cyclone approached the northeast coast with furious winds, rains and surging seas on a scale unseen there in generations.

Gusts up to 185 mph were expected when Cyclone Yasi strikes the coast late today after whipping across Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The storm front is more than 310 miles wide and Yasi is so strong, it could reach far inland before it significantly loses power.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the last cyclone of such strength to cross Queensland was in 1918.

“It’s such a big storm – it’s a monster, killer storm,” Bligh said. “This impact is likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations.”

Bligh said coastal residents should have left already as their region would undoubtedly flood during an expected high sea surge. People farther inland were told to “bunker down” in their homes and get ready for gale-force winds. More than 10,000 people were already in evacuation centers, and roads were closing as strong winds and heavy rain made travel unsafe.

Landfall was expected just south of Cairns – a city of about 164,000 people about 1,400 miles north of Sydney and a gateway for visitors to the Great Barrier Reef – between the towns of Innisfail and Cardwell. The rural community of Innisfail was devastated by Cyclone Larry in 2006 with thousands of homes and banana and sugar cane plantations destroyed. No one was killed.