"Cyclone slams into Australia’s northeast coast; 175,000 people without power in storm’s path" by Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press / February 3, 2011
CAIRNS, Australia — A massive cyclone struck northeastern Australia early today, tearing off roofs, toppling trees, and cutting electricity to thousands — the most powerful storm to hit the area in nearly a century....
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Related: Quick Asian Excursion
Traffic was stopped at a submerged and detroyed banana plantation near the Queensland town of Tully yesterday after Cyclone Yasi passed through the northern part of the state overnight. (Dave Hunt/AFP/Getty Images)
Nope, not making it through there on a bike.
"As big cyclone winds down, battered residents mop up; Australia’s storm leaves massive damage" by Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press / February 4, 2011
CAIRNS, Australia — Drenching rain and the threat of flash flooding hampered recovery efforts today following one of Australia’s most damaging cyclones, as authorities confirmed the first death from the storm.
Cyclone Yasi was downgraded this morning to less than hurricane strength after traveling almost 500 miles inland since crashing ashore a day earlier along a long stretch of Queensland state’s coast.
The storm destroyed dozens of homes and ripped roofs and walls from dozens more. It cut power supplies in two regional cities and laid waste to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of banana and sugarcane crops.
And up go food prices again.
Police announced the first death from the cyclone — that of a 23-year-old man who was asphyxiated after inhaling fumes from a diesel-powered generator he was using in a closed room as he sheltered from the storm. Two other men are missing in Cardwell....
Power was gradually being restored in some areas, and airports in regional centers were reopening. But the work was being hampered by torrential rain in other parts of the disaster zone, a coastal tourist region more than 190 miles long that forms the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued flood warnings along the length of the stricken coast, which is in the middle of the annual monsoon season. Further warnings were in place for inland regions in the path of the storm’s remnants.
Officials urged people in towns still cut off to be patient....
The cyclone has added misery to a state that has been battered for weeks by the nation’s worst flooding in decades, which killed 35 people, swamped dozens of towns, and caused an estimated $5.6 billion dollars damage.
In Cardwell, power and water supplies remained cut, and shops and restaurants were shuttered. The main road into town was torn into chunks in places, and piles of sand washed ashore by tidal surges blocked it elsewhere. Yachts and leisure cruisers were piled atop one another at the marina, and some washed up on the boardwalk....
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They could use some of that water on the other side of the island:
Officials urged people in towns still cut off to be patient....
The cyclone has added misery to a state that has been battered for weeks by the nation’s worst flooding in decades, which killed 35 people, swamped dozens of towns, and caused an estimated $5.6 billion dollars damage.
In Cardwell, power and water supplies remained cut, and shops and restaurants were shuttered. The main road into town was torn into chunks in places, and piles of sand washed ashore by tidal surges blocked it elsewhere. Yachts and leisure cruisers were piled atop one another at the marina, and some washed up on the boardwalk....
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They could use some of that water on the other side of the island:
"Wildfires burn houses in Western Australia" by Associated Press / February 7, 2011
PERTH, Australia —The fires in Australia’s far west come as huge areas of the east coast recover from a huge cyclone that struck in Queensland state last week and from flooding from drenching rains in Queensland and in southern Victoria state....
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