Thousands evacuated as cyclone barrels towards Australian coast

Bloomberg

The worst cyclone in six years is set to smash into the coast of Queensland on Tuesday morning, forcing thousands of Australians to evacuate or seek emergency shelter and prompting some of the world’s biggest miners to halt coal operations.
Cyclone Debbie is forecast to intensify before it makes landfall north of the city of Mackay with winds as strong as 275 kilometers an hour at its “very destructive core,” according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Police warned that 25,000 residents need to evacuate the city. “This is going to be a severe cyclone,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters Monday. “It is increasing in intensity.” Debbie is expected to cross land as a category four cyclone, carrying the risk of significant structural damage and dangerous airborne debris, according to the weather bureau. It will be the first in two years to reach the coast of the northeastern state and could be worse than Cyclone Yasi in some areas. Yasi was category five and badly damaged sugar- and banana-producing regions and affected tourist sites on the Great Barrier Reef.