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Cyclone Yasi 'already worse than Larry'
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Cyclone Yasi is hitting the north Queensland town of Tully with full force, with locals already saying the storm is worse than Cyclone Larry which devastated the region in 2006.
Cassowary Coast councillor Ross Sorell said his house was shaking under the force of winds of up to 290km/h.
"We're already at a stage where it's worse than it was during Larry. I don't remember the house shaking like that last time," he told AAP.
"The wind and rain outside are howling, it's a horrible sound."
Mr Sorbello said the air smelled like freshly mown grass from the massive amount of vegetation flying through the air.
Six call for help that won't come
Queenslanders take shelter in bathrooms
WATCH: Timelapse of Yasi's path
Yasi has started to cross the north Queensland coast near Mission Beach and is starting to unleash the upper range of its violent 290km/h winds.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the category five cyclone began crossing the coast a few minutes before midnight (AEST) near Mission Beach.
The town is about 50km south of Innisfail and about halfway between Cairns and Townsville.
"We're crossing the coast now, but there'll still be a good few hours — in fact most of the night for most people — before we start to see significant easing in the winds," bureau spokesman Rick Threlfall told the ABC.
He said Yasi was still expected to pack winds of up to 290km/h.
So far Lucinda, to the south of the eye, is seeing the worst of the winds, with gusts to 185km/h, but the worst is still to come.
Bureau spokesman Rob Morton told AAP the eye, which is 35km across, would take about an hour to pass.
"We haven't actually got equipment there at the location (Mission Beach) to monitor the wind and know what it is but we do know it will gust up to 290km/h, but the average will be less than that," he said.
At 10.30pm, when Premier Anna Bligh gave her final update for the night, 90,000 homes were without power.
Terrified residents are sharing stories of houses shaking from the ferocity of Yasi's winds.
Some properties have lost their roofs, and people are stranded calling for help that won't come.
Evacuation centres in Townsville and Cairns are among those to lose power, plunging thousands of evacuees into darkness.
State disaster coordinator Ian Stewart said deaths were "very likely" as he detailed the plight of a group of six holed up in a Port Hinchinbrook unit complex, calling for help that simply cannot be sent.
All authorities have been able to do is tell the group, aged in their 60s, to shelter on the second story of the complex before a storm surge rises to the floor of that second story.
"Unfortunately we are going to see significant destruction of buildings ... and it is very likely that we will see deaths occur. We have not hidden from that fact," Mr Stewart told Sky News.
Ms Bligh said the heartbreaking reality was that rescues were outside the realm of possibility now.
"We are going to see, I think, more distressed phone calls ...," she told reporters.
"The people who answer our phones, they'll be doing it tough tonight."
Residents including those in Cairns, Innisfail, Tully are sharing terrifying stories about the power Yasi is unleashing across a large swathe of the north Queensland coast.
In Cairns, about 2500 evacuees holed up at the main evacuation centre at an Earlville shopping centre are waiting out the tempest in darkness.
"We're just organising everybody, making sure everyone has torches and is safe and well," Katika O'Brien who works at the Coffee Club told AAP.
In Townsville's evacuation centres, where a very high storm surge is expected, the situation is the same.
Those holed up elsewhere, including Garbutt resident Glenn Barker, expect to lose their homes.
"I've resigned myself that the storm surge is going to flood the bottom floor of the house," he told AAP. "I'm just hoping the roof stays on."
Ms Bligh has warned of the potential for a catastrophic power failure across North Queensland if vital transmission towers are knocked out.
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Cyclone Yasi is hitting the north Queensland town of Tully with full force, with locals already saying the storm is worse than Cyclone Larry which devastated the region in 2006.
Cassowary Coast councillor Ross Sorell said his house was shaking under the force of winds of up to 290km/h.
"We're already at a stage where it's worse than it was during Larry. I don't remember the house shaking like that last time," he told AAP.
"The wind and rain outside are howling, it's a horrible sound."
Mr Sorbello said the air smelled like freshly mown grass from the massive amount of vegetation flying through the air.
Six call for help that won't come
Queenslanders take shelter in bathrooms
WATCH: Timelapse of Yasi's path
Yasi has started to cross the north Queensland coast near Mission Beach and is starting to unleash the upper range of its violent 290km/h winds.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the category five cyclone began crossing the coast a few minutes before midnight (AEST) near Mission Beach.
The town is about 50km south of Innisfail and about halfway between Cairns and Townsville.
"We're crossing the coast now, but there'll still be a good few hours — in fact most of the night for most people — before we start to see significant easing in the winds," bureau spokesman Rick Threlfall told the ABC.
He said Yasi was still expected to pack winds of up to 290km/h.
So far Lucinda, to the south of the eye, is seeing the worst of the winds, with gusts to 185km/h, but the worst is still to come.
Bureau spokesman Rob Morton told AAP the eye, which is 35km across, would take about an hour to pass.
"We haven't actually got equipment there at the location (Mission Beach) to monitor the wind and know what it is but we do know it will gust up to 290km/h, but the average will be less than that," he said.
At 10.30pm, when Premier Anna Bligh gave her final update for the night, 90,000 homes were without power.
Terrified residents are sharing stories of houses shaking from the ferocity of Yasi's winds.
Some properties have lost their roofs, and people are stranded calling for help that won't come.
Evacuation centres in Townsville and Cairns are among those to lose power, plunging thousands of evacuees into darkness.
State disaster coordinator Ian Stewart said deaths were "very likely" as he detailed the plight of a group of six holed up in a Port Hinchinbrook unit complex, calling for help that simply cannot be sent.
All authorities have been able to do is tell the group, aged in their 60s, to shelter on the second story of the complex before a storm surge rises to the floor of that second story.
"Unfortunately we are going to see significant destruction of buildings ... and it is very likely that we will see deaths occur. We have not hidden from that fact," Mr Stewart told Sky News.
Ms Bligh said the heartbreaking reality was that rescues were outside the realm of possibility now.
"We are going to see, I think, more distressed phone calls ...," she told reporters.
"The people who answer our phones, they'll be doing it tough tonight."
Residents including those in Cairns, Innisfail, Tully are sharing terrifying stories about the power Yasi is unleashing across a large swathe of the north Queensland coast.
In Cairns, about 2500 evacuees holed up at the main evacuation centre at an Earlville shopping centre are waiting out the tempest in darkness.
"We're just organising everybody, making sure everyone has torches and is safe and well," Katika O'Brien who works at the Coffee Club told AAP.
In Townsville's evacuation centres, where a very high storm surge is expected, the situation is the same.
Those holed up elsewhere, including Garbutt resident Glenn Barker, expect to lose their homes.
"I've resigned myself that the storm surge is going to flood the bottom floor of the house," he told AAP. "I'm just hoping the roof stays on."
Ms Bligh has warned of the potential for a catastrophic power failure across North Queensland if vital transmission towers are knocked out.
