Oh oh......sound familiar?
Cyclone Larry 'tearing apart homes'
20mar06
CATEGORY five Cyclone Larry is tearing homes apart as it crosses the far north Queensland coast, with police unable to leave their station to answer desperate calls for help.
The most destructive part of the huge storm has made landfall near the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, unroofing homes with wind gusts reaching 290km/h.
Larry's winds are at least as strong as those Cyclone Tracy unleashed in Darwin in 1974, in a storm that killed 71 people and destroyed more than 70 per cent of the city's buildings, leaving over 20,000 people homeless.
Innisfail police have been inundated with calls from residents whose homes are "literally crumbling around them".
"We have roofs flying off in Fly Fish Point, Silkwood and in the city centre," a Innisfail police spokeswoman said.
"And we have trees across roads."
She said most of the destruction was occurring in the regions just north-east of the town.
Police had been unable to leave the station, despite hundreds of calls for help, she said.
Callers were very scared.
"Homes are literally crumbling around them," she said.
Innisfail Hospital director of nursing Leslie Harris said wards had been cleared yesterday to make way for possible cyclone victims.
Bruce Gunn from the Cyclone Warning Centre said it was one of the biggest cyclones seen, with Innisfail hit hard, as well as Cairns.
"We've had reports of roofs taken off, KFCs blown away, admissions to Cairns hospital. It's pretty windy around Cairns too, on the northern side of the cyclone," he told ABC radio.
"Apparently it's quite difficult to walk around at the moment.
"And sea levels are starting to rise too, and starting to break the banks over the highest astronautical tides.
"So all in all it's happening right now at the moment up in north Queensland."
Mr Gunn said Innisfail was in the calm of the eye of the storm now.
"The cyclone has crossed the coast over over Innisfail which is in calm conditions right now," he said.
"But the other side of the cyclone is just about to pass over it so they will be getting cyclone strength winds from the other direction soon.
"Stronger winds are still persisting south of Innisfail in the Tully area (south of Cairns), where there is some heavier rainfalls, not as much heavy rainfall as you might expect, more wind-related damage."
An Innisfail resident, who gave his name only as John, told the Seven Network that many windows had blown in and about "one in every 10 roofs" had been torn off.
Another resident from Mission Beach, south of Cairns, said homes there had also suffered significant damage.
"Trees are down, there's branches everywhere," the resident, identified only as Bernadette, told Seven.
"The next-door house has lost part of its roof ... my backyard is absolutely covered in branches.
"We're right in the middle of it and I'm just praying and hoping it moves fast."
heraldsun.news.com.au |
