Thousands flee as Australia braces for ‘monster’ cyclone
ayr (Australia) — Thousands of people including tourists were evacuated on Monday as northeast Australia braced for a “monster” cyclone packing destructive winds, with warnings of major structural damage and dangerous tidal surges.
Cyclone Debbie has been forming off the coast of Queensland state over recent days, the Bureau of Meteorology said, and is expected to make landfall as a category four storm — on a scale of five — after daybreak on Tuesday.
Residents, who have been sandbagging and boarding up homes, were told to prepare for the worst weather to pummel the state since Cyclone Yasi in 2011, which ripped houses from their foundations and devastated crops.
“This is probably the largest evacuation we’ve ever had to do,” said Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, adding that structural damage and power outages were likely. “This is going to be a monster of a cyclone.”
Some 3,500 people have been evacuated between the towns of Home Hill and Proserpine, around 100km from Townsville, a tourist hotspot used to access the Great Barrier Reef. Another
This is probably the largest evacuation we’ve ever had to do Annastacia Palaszczuk, Queensland Premier
2,000 in the coastal area of Bowen were also on the move, Palaszczuk said, with cyclone shelters available for those with nowhere else to go.
Up to 25,000 more in low-lying parts of Mackay were urged to head to higher ground amid fears the storm could cause a tidal surge up to 2.5 metres.
The ferocity of Debbie has been building and it was upgraded to a category four cyclone late on Monday before making landfall, expected somewhere between Ayr and Mackay, with a warning that “it may intensify further”.
The meteorology bureau forecast pounding rain and wind gusts of up 280kmh near its centre. —