Thousands Feared Homeless in Australia

[tocqueville]

By MERAIAH FOLEY, Associated Press Writer
14 minutes ago

CAIRNS, Australia - Metal roofs littered streets, wooden houses lay in splinters and banana plantations were stripped bare after the most powerful cyclone to hit Australia in three decades lashed the country's eastern coast Monday.

Amazingly, the storm caused no reported fatalities, and only 30 people suffered minor injuries. But the damage from Cyclone Larry, a Category 5 storm with winds up to 180 mph, was expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Hardest hit was Innisfail, a farming city of 8,500 people 60 miles south of the tourist city of Cairns in northeastern Queensland state.

"It looks like an atomic bomb hit the place," Innisfail mayor Neil Clarke told Australian television. "It is severe damage. This is more than a local disaster, this is a national disaster."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060320/ap_on_re_au_an/australia_cyclone

[magellan]

1. I feel their pain

We were lucky here in FL last year. I have a bad feeling about this year though.

Here's hoping the Australian gov't is better at disaster planning than the US. Like those who felt Katrina's wrath, these poor people will need all the help they can get to put their lives back together after Larry.

[rodeodance]

2. k

[magellan]

4. a?

[northofdenali]

3. Ok, Aussie DU'ers, it's time to post your whereabouts and

if you're ok, and where we can start collecting goods & funds to send to our brothers and sisters there. God knows they turned out en masse for Katrina and Rita victims.

I hope you are all okay.