After floods, Australia's Queensland braces for cyclone

Winds of more than 250kmph could be expected from the high-category four system, state premier Anna Bligh said today. The storm is likely to hit province's north coast tomorrow.

The premier compared Yasi with Cyclone Larry that hit the state in 2006 and was a mid-level category four system. Larry damaged about 10,000 homes and caused damages of ASD 1.5 billion.

"This of course is not only a system now tracking as more intense than Cyclone Larry, it is significantly larger than Cyclone Larry," Bligh said.

The premier said areas to the north and the south of the crossing point would see its effects, including a high storm surge, torrential rain and destructive winds.

Bligh warned residents the storm was so large that the calm experienced as the eye passes could last for more than one hour.

"It's very important people understand that calm is not an opportunity to go walking outside and to have a look around...This is such a big system that this eye could last for more than an hour and at the end of that period the next thing that will be felt is the strongest possible winds.

"This storm is huge and it is life threatening," she said.
The 500km-wide cyclone with a giant eye of 100km continues has already prompted evacuations.

Cyclone Yasi is steaming towards a band between Innisfail and Mackay, threatening to swamp low-lying areas. The storm is tipped to cross the coast between 10pm tomorrow night and 4am Thursday.

However, Bligh said there is some good news Yasi's path could save western communities from flooding again.

"When it travels west and goes inland it is less likely to drop all of that mass of rainfall into the central Queensland catchment areas that have already experienced flooding and more likely, no guarantees, but more likely to head into the gulf and take the rain into areas more able to cope with it," she said.

The premier said preemptive disaster declarations had been made across Queensland's central, north, far north and western areas, giving police powers to force people out of danger areas.

She hoped people would go willingly and those powers would not be needed.
Bligh said extra emergency services personnel, including swift water rescue teams, and police had been deployed into north Queensland and more would be sent to Cooktown and Cairns during the day.