Australia: Queensland coast is about to hit by a deadliest tropical Cyclone Yasi with ferocity the likes of which hasn’t been seen since 1918 as officials warned it could be the deadliest storm in generations.

Yasi was upgraded to a category five storm from category four as it menaced the populous east coast, where it was expected to hit around 10pm (1200 GMT) on Wednesday, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Yasi is on track to make landfall between Innisfail and Cardwell about 11pm (AEST) tonight (2am Thursday NZT), with authorities confident they have the site within a 30km range of accuracy.

The cyclone already has winds of 295km/h that have knocked out weather monitoring equipment on Willis Island, off Cairns, and was bringing down trees at Ayr, near Townsville, on Wednesday morning.

Yasi will cross the coast on the high tide, meaning a storm surge that will accompany it will be devastating for low-lying areas. More >

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