“Monster, killer” storm bears down on Queensland, Australia (UPDATES) (VIDEO)
A cyclone described as a "monster, killer storm" is bearing down on the Australian city of Cairns, forcing tens of thousands of people to relocate.
The entire far north of the state of Queensland, already devastated by recent floods, was preparing early Wednesday for Cyclone Yasi, a category 4 cyclone as powerful as Hurricane Katrina, to make landfall within hours.
A forecaster from the Bureau of Meteorology told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) that Yasi was continuing to intensify and she could not rule out the chance of it reaching category 5.
Yasi, expected to strike the coast between 10 p.m. Wednesday and 1 a.m. Thursday packing winds of up to 175 miles an hour, has forced the closure of 300 schools and shut mines, ports and railways.
| Is Queensland prepared for another natural disaster? |
Residents of the far-north capital Cairns are scrambling to stock up on supplies, with retailers reporting long lines, according to AAP. The Australian military has been called in to evacuate hospitals, and residents in low-lying areas are being urged to leave.
Cairns, home to 122,000 people and a popular destination for backpackers from around the world, lies in the path of the storm, and is expected to be hit by a storm surge up to 7 feet high.
“This storm is huge, and it is life-threatening,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said in the state capital, Brisbane. “We do have time to prepare, but that time is now and that time is today.”
Parts of inland Queensland were buffeted Tuesday by heavy rain and strong winds from another cyclone, Anthony, which moved through without causing significant damage.
A 460-mile stretch of coastline, from Cooktown in the far north to Mackay, on the Whitsunday Coast, is on alert for Yasi, including several tourist islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
About 9,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes and move to safety and thousands more are evacuating voluntarily, according to The Telegraph. Airlines have scheduled extra flights to get vacationers out of the region before the storm hits.
Many Queensland communities were already facing years of rebuilding and a recovery of "postwar proportions," after weeks of torrential rain resulted in floods that covered an area the size of France and Germany combined.
Asked on the Australian Broadcasting Commission program, The 7.30 Report, how the state's emergency services would cope so soon after the floods, Queensland's Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said:
"They certainly have been under a lot of pressure over the last few weeks, however, they are well-prepared, well-practiced for this type of event.
"The people in the north have had a little bit of reprieve from the floods in the south, so the people here are a little bit more refreshed in the north. However, this has been a very intense period, particularly over the last few days, and we expect it to get worse of course in the days to come."
Queensland is beginning a recovery effort estimated to cost at least $5 billion as its economy prepares for slower growth because of flooding since November, Bligh said Jan. 28.
The Australian state contributes about 19 percent of Australia’s economic output, producing 80 percent of the country’s coking coal, Treasurer Wayne Swan said last month.
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