Havoc as Cyclone Debbie hits
AUSTRALIA: Howling winds, heavy rain and huge seas have pounded Australia’s northeast, damaging homes, wrecking jetties and cutting power to thousands of people as Tropical Cyclone Debbie tears through Queensland’s far north.
Wind gusts stronger than 260kmh were recorded at tourist resorts along the Great Barrier Reef as the powerful storm, at Category 4 just one rung below the most dangerous wind speed level, began to make landfall yesterday afternoon.
It was later downgraded to a Category 3 storm.
Forecasters said high winds could persist for as long as 10 hours, although it would then weaken rapidly and was expected to be downgraded to category one before dawn today.
Police said one man was badly hurt when a wall collapsed at Proserpine, about 900 kilometres northwest of Brisbane, and was taken to hospital. However, the weather was still too bad to assess damage fully or mount an emergency response.
‘‘We will also receive more reports of injuries, if not deaths. We need to be prepared for that,’’ Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said.
Debbie made landfall at Airlie Beach, knocking out telephone services. ’’It’s very noisy: Screaming, howling wind ... sounds like a freight train,’’ Jan Clifford texted from Airlie Beach, about 950 kilometres northwest of Brisbane.
Authorities had urged thousands of people in low-lying areas to flee their homes on Monday, in what would be the biggest evacuation seen in Australia since Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin on Christmas Day, 1974.
Torrential rain flooded streets, and the wind smashed windows, uprooted trees and tossed debris through the streets, while jetties at Airlie Beach marina were wrecked.
Power was cut for 38,000 people in a wide area between the towns of Bowen and Mackay, north and south of Airlie Beach, utility Ergon Energy said. Ports at Abbot Point, Mackay and Hay Point were shut, and Townsville airport was closed. BHP Billiton and Glencore halted work at their coal mines in the storm’s path.
The Insurance Council of Australia declared Cyclone Debbie a catastrophe, making it easier to make claims, but said it was too early to estimate the cost of damage.
With an eye 50km wide, the cyclone had earlier swept through the Whitsunday Islands, where tourist resorts were damaged and boats torn from moorings, guests said. Television pictures showed churning seas had washed away beaches.
Debbie is the most powerful storm to hit Queensland since Cyclone Yasi destroyed homes and crops and devastated island resorts in 2011.
A tidal surge was expected to flood low-lying areas near Mackay as the storm whipped up waves and currents and lifted sea levels
Holidaymakers tried to make the best of it as they bunkered down in resort buildings. ’’Go to the Whitsundays, they said, it’d be fun, they said, beautiful weather over here ... if we had a kite,’’ holidaymaker Kurt Moore said.
- Reuters, AP