Re: Three feet of rain? Cyclone aims for waterlogged Australia
Packed shelters turn Australians away ahead of monster cyclone
CAIRNS, Australia — Police
turned desperate people away from overcrowded shelters in northeastern Australia on Wednesday as one the most powerful cyclones in the country's history bore down on a string of popular tourist cities lining the coast.
The first major gusts hit coastal Queensland as frightened residents and backpackers scrambled to find safe havens with just hours before Cyclone Yasi delivers its full wrath.
Selwyn Hughes, turned away from a packed shopping center acting as a shelter in the coastal tourist city of Cairns, stood with his family in the uncovered parking lot and said his only comfort for the moment was in numbers.
"There are so many of us here.
Surely they have to do something, find somewhere safer to move us to before it arrives," Hughes said, squatting on a pink suitcase with
his five children, aged two to 13.
Engineers warned that with
winds reaching up to 186 mph, Yasi could blow apart even "cyclone proof" homes built in recent years because of concerns of the growing threats of cyclones.
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