Cylcone Larry, a category five storm packing winds of up to 290kph, slammed into the coast near the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns in Australia’s northeast, early on Monday morning.
Although there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries. The cyclone smashed thousands of buildings, uprooted trees, flattened powerlines and decimated banana crops and sugarcane fields.
Authorities said 30 people received minor injuries such as cuts and abrasions, mostly from flying debris.
Clean up begins
In the wake of the disaster emergency crews were scrambling to deliver food and water, restore power and provide shelter to ravaged communities. Military aircraft and medical personnel were sent to help the clean-up.
Homes rendered unliveable in the wake of the violent storm forced thousands of shaken residents to turn to temporary shelters and motel and hotel accommodation.
Authorities had evacuated more than 1,000 people in the lead-up to the storm.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has arrived at Innisfail to assess the destruction.
"The property damage has been immense. We haven't had a cyclone like this for decades, if we've ever had one like it before," said the premier, who has launched an appeal for victims.
Mr Beattie said government authorities were focussed on repairing infrastructure, with roads and bridges cut by fallen trees and localised flooding, while power and telephone lines were expected to be down across the region for days to come.
Local energy suppliers said it could take several days to restore power to some 98,000 homes that were left without electricity after the cyclone.
Tracy's 'big brother'
The barrage was described as one of the worst ever to hit Queensland and was compared to the Northern Territory's notorious Cyclone Tracy, which battered Darwin on Christmas Day, 1974.
"We haven't had a cyclone of this category cross the coast in a populated area for quite a long time," said Bruce Gunn, from the Cyclone Warning Centre.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Cathy Muller said Cyclone Tracy had been a "midget" compared to Larry.
"Cyclone Tracy was a category four, this one when it crossed was category five, so a much stronger system, much more destructive," she said.
Describing the storm as "Cyclone Tracy's bigger brother" Johnstone Shire mayor Neil Clarke said people were walking around like "stunned mullets".
"This is more than a local disaster, this is a national disaster," Mr Clarke said.
"We are in urgent need of accommodation for people, urgent need for water, we haven't got any power for the hospitals, for water pumping stations, we won't even have any water to drink by tomorrow."
Mr Clarke said "just about every building" in Innisfail had some sort of damage, with many houses unliveable.
Authorities have warned residents to beware of further flooding, and cautioned against venomous snakes and crocodiles shaken up by the storm.
'Terrifying ordeal'
Residents have described their terror when the storm hit. "It sounded like the exorcist coming to get you - it was terrifying," Innisfail Barrier Reef Motel owner Amanda Fitzpatrick told ABC Radio.
"We could only go out in the eye of the storm and have a look and it just looks like an atomic bomb has gone off," she said.
Innisfail resident Des Hensler said: "It's just frightening. I don't get scared much but this is something to make any man tremble in his boots."
Graeme Wollington, also of Innisfail, said there was "glass and tin flying everywhere".
Counting the cost
The damage bill from Cyclone Larry is expected to reach half a billion dollars, with the Insurance Disaster Response Organisation urging residents to swiftly contact their insurer to enable accurate damage assessments to surface.
Farmers have been devastated by a $300 million damage bill to banana, pawpaw and rambutan crops, while tourism operators fear destruction from the cyclone will also ruin their livelihoods.
Emergency services estimated about half the buildings in
Innisfail were damaged.
A staggering 80 percent of buildings in the township of
Babinda, between Cairns and Innisfail, and 100 percent of crops were damaged.
Hospitals at Innisfail, Babinda and Atherton also took a bashing, with broken windows and doors, leaking roofs and water damage.
PM to tour disaster area
Prime Minister John Howard has announced he'll tour cyclone ravaged areas in the next few days to see first-hand what damage has been done and to help the federal government assess what long-term assistance may be required.
He said he was relieved few people had been injured and none killed.
"Thank heavens it does not appear as though there have been any very serious injures. Fingers crossed, there are no fatalities and no serious injuries. I hope that continues to be the case," he said.
Mr Howard said disaster relief arrangements had started automatically, including a thousand dollars for people left homeless.
Wati brews offshore
Queensland’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said Cyclone Larry had been downgraded to a category one storm and was losing strength as it travelled inland.
But the BOM said flood warnings remained in place for the Tully River, Mulgrave River and Russell River.
The bureau also said another storm, tropical Cyclone Wati, had formed but it remained about 100 kilometres off the Queensland coast and posed no immediate threat.