Cyclone Larry lashes North Queensland coast

A map showing the centre of Cyclone Larry over the North Queensland coast. Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology

BRISBANE - Destructive Cyclone Larry is continuing to batter the far north Queensland coast.

Authorities say cane farming town Innisfail, which has borne the brunt of the storm, will be plunged into financial ruin in the wake of the destructive cyclone.

The cyclone hit as a maximum category five this morning, with wind gusts reaching 290kph. It has since been downgraded to a four.

Innisfail, south of Cairns, has borne the brunt of Larry destruction, but Cairns has also been significantly affected.

Despite the downgrade, forecasters have warned the far north region has probably not yet seen the strongest winds.

"We have reports of fairly major structural damage around Innisfail area, one from Silkwood which is to the south of Innisfail, and we've had reports of some casualties at Cairns hospital, some 20 or so," weather bureau forecaster Jonty Hall said.

"There's also some reports of a few people missing as well."

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said she could not confirm reports of people being taken to hospital.

"We are just putting all our contingencies in place," she said.

"We are making sure people are calm and talking to them on the phones through out communications centres.

Johnstone Shire Council deputy mayor George Pervan said the cyclone had torn through the sugar cane and banana crops, causing extensive damage.

"The crops are all gone, bananas are all flattened, cane's flattened. It'll kill us for 12 or 18 months," Mr Pervan said.

"It'll kill us completely.

"They were expecting a good price for the cane this year, they were getting a good price for bananas.

"(We're expecting) a lot of problems, massive problems."

He said Larry was much worse than the category three Cyclone Winifred, which struck south of Innisfail in February 1986, causing widespread destruction.

"Winifred was nothing compared to this, nothing at all," he said from his Innisfail home.

"There's been plenty of damage. There's roofs gone off, at our place ... we're just off the river and there's damage everywhere. It's unbelievable.

"It's pouring rain. It's very scary.

"You can't even move out of the yard here, there's trees right up the road, powerlines everywhere and the only safe place is (to stay indoors) until the rain stops."

When Winifred struck, it destroyed 50 homes and damaged hundreds of others as well as larger buildings.

Three people were killed, 20 injured, and the town suffered severe sugar cane, fruit and vegetable crop losses.

Total estimated costs were $A325 ($NZ376.2) million.

To add to the region's concern, a second cyclone, Wati, has formed behind Larry but was today near Vanuatu, still days away from hitting the Australian coast.

Meanwhile, passengers booked on the Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Cairns tomorrow morning will not know for some time if they will leave as expected.

Air New Zealand spokesman David Jamieson says the decision to fly into Cairns obviously depends on the weather, but he says there is the added complication of possible damage to the airport and navigational beacons on the ground.

Mr Jamieson says the situation is being monitored and a decision on whether the flight will leave will be made in time to advise passengers.

North Queensland supermarkets had earlier been cleaned out as residents prepared for the storm. Hot FM's Rod Difflack is in Townsville and says many has filled up with fuel and emptied the shelves of bottled water and batteries for portable radios. . 

- AAP, NEWSTALK ZB