SYDNEY: A
tropical cyclone battered Australia's Barrier Reef coast Saturday,
knocking out power and phone lines for thousands of people as officials
warned the storm "continues to be a threat" despite weakening in force.
Tens
of thousands of people hunkered down overnight as strong gales and
heavy rains lashed the far north but no deaths or major destruction was
reported as cyclone Ita was downgraded to a category one storm.
Ita
crossed the coast near Cape Flattery late Friday as a category four
storm packing winds up to 230 kilometres per hour (140 miles per hour),
tearing off roofs and uprooting trees.
Queensland state
Premier Campbell Newman said several thousand people across the far
north had lost electricity and warned that cylone Ita "continues to be a
threat" as it tracked south across the state.
"I am
greatly relieved at this time that we have no reports of either death or
injury," he told a press conference, while urging people to stay
indoors or in shelters "until this is properly over".
A
state cabinet meeting was underway to organise the clean up operation
and assess how quickly electricity and communication lines could be
restored, the premier said.
Cyclone warnings remained in
force for coastal areas from Cape Flattery to Cardwell, including
Cooktown and the major Barrier Reef resorts of Port Douglas and Cairns,
1,700 kilometres (1,060 miles) north of Brisbane.
Roofs
were ripped off two homes and a pub in the coastal resort of Cooktown
where several trees were uprooted during the night, officials said.
Large parts of the 1,000 strong Aboriginal community of Hope Vale and Cooktown, population 2,400, had lost power.
The storm was downgraded from the strongest category five before it made landfall Friday night.
At
11:00 am (0100 GMT Saturday) the Bureau of Meteorology said Ita had
weakened to a category one and was 115 kilometres northwest of Cairns
and moving south at 11 kilometres an hour.
- Still packing a fair punch -
Winds
gusting up to 120 kilometres per hour were forecast to hit towards Port
Douglas on Saturday, with gusts up to 100kph as far south as Cairns and
surrounding inland areas.
Tropical storms are common in northeastern Australia.
Before
weakening offshore, Ita had threatened to be stronger but not as
widespread as the monster Cyclone Yasi system that tore through the
region just over three years ago, ripping homes from their foundations
and devastating crops.
The Bureau of Meteorology also
warned of heavy rainfall possibly leading to flash flooding and coastal
inundation from a storm surge.
Cooktown Mayor Peter Scott told Australian Associated Press he felt relieved as he had feared waking to widespread devastation.
"There's a lot of vegetation on the road and we've unfortunately seen some buildings damaged," he said.
"But there hasn't been a lot of structural damage."
Local resident Diana Spiker spent the morning walking her dog and had also expected far worse.
"They were talking about a category five at one stage so I thought there would have been a lot more damage," she said.
The bureau's Ken Kato said Ita could be further downgraded to a tropical low.
He expected the cyclone to head out "into the Coral Sea somewhere off the north tropical coast" on Sunday or Monday.
"But it's still packing a fair punch," Mr Kato added.
Meanwhile, the bureau issued a severe weather warning with strong winds and large waves for the Sydney region.
Gusts
peaking at 100 kph were predicted to hit the southeastern coastal areas
Saturday as a low pressure system developing off New South Wales
deepens before moving inland towards the Hunter Valley in the afternoon.
