'Life threatening' cyclone heading for Queensland

The flood-ravaged Australian state of Queensland is preparing for the arrival of a "huge and life threatening" cyclone that authorities fear will be worst storm the region has ever seen. Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi is predicted to hit north Queensland coast late on Wednesday night after strengthening into a high-level category four storm that is as powerful as Hurricane Katrina.
The far-north capital Cairns, home to 122,000 people and a popular destination for backpackers from around the world, lies in the path of the storm, and is expected to be hit by a storm surge up to 7ft high.
In total, a 460-mile stretch of coastline, from Cooktown in the far north to Mackay, on the Whitsunday Coast, is on cyclone alert, including several tourist islands of the Great Barrier Reef. Some 9,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes and move to safety and thousands more are evacuating voluntarily, heading south and west out of the impact zone. Airlines have scheduled extra flights to get holidaymakers out of the region before the storm hits.
Anna Bligh, the state's premier, has warned that Yasi would be more ferocious and far larger than Cyclone Larry, which devastated the sugar town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, in 2006, destroying thousands of homes, causing $1.5bn (£99m) worth of damage and killing one person.
Yasi is expected to bring winds of up to 175mph and is so vast that it could take an hour for the eye of the storm to pass overhead.
Forecasters have predicted that the storm could lash a stretch of coast almost as long as the British Isles with torrential rain, powerful winds and hazardous storm surges.
"This of course is not only a system now tracking as more intense than Cyclone Larry, it is significantly larger than Cyclone Larry," Ms Bligh said.
"This storm is huge and life threatening.
"We could see very powerful flash flooding that will be dangerous and potentially deadly."
In preparation for the massive storm, ports have been shut down, schools and universities have been closed, holiday resorts on the Great Barrier Reef have been emptied and patients from Cairns Hospital will be airlifted to Brisbane overnight.
Police have been given special powers to force people out of area in the path of the cyclone if necessary. Extra emergency services personnel, including swift water rescue teams and police have been deployed into north of the state to await the weather system and thousands of people have been warned to stock up on food and essentials in case of blackouts. Up to a third of Australia's valuable sugar crop is also under threat.
Large swaths of Queensland are still struggling to recover from Australia's worst natural disaster in history. Widespread flooding left two-thirds of the Sunshine State under water last month, affecting 30,000 homes and businesses and resulting in at least 35 deaths. The damage bill from the floods is expected to reach $10bn.