Clean-up Operation Starts after Northeastern Australia Hit by Cyclone

|TOP|Coastal communities along the tropical northeastern corner of Australia are beginning to sift through what remains of their homes and businesses after the region was hit by Cyclone Larry Monday morning.

Roofs were ripped off homes, trees uprooted and crops left flattened when winds reached 290kph (180mph) as the cyclone crossed the coast south of Cairns.

Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie, speaking from the sugar-growing town of Innisfail which bore the full brunt of Cyclone Larry’s winds, that recovery would be “long and slow”, reports Reuters.

He said it would be a long time until basic services were up and running once again, but praised the emergency services and local communities. Mr Beattie also assured food, clean water, power generators and tarpaulins would be delivered Tuesday to the areas affected by the cyclone.

|AD|“The whole bloody place is blown apart and (the emergency services and local communities are) standing there fixing it up. I just think it says a lot about us as Australians," Beattie told Australian television.

The damage wrought by the maximum-category five storm was spread along 300km of northeastern coastline. According to authorities, around 30 people received minor injuries and no deaths were reported.

"This is going to be a long, slow recovery,” said Beattie, who estimated the bill for the damage could be tens of millions.

The Australian Banana Growers’ Council estimated that as much as 90 per cent of banana production wiped out in the Tully are near Innisfail, a key area in Australian banana production.

Banana grower Brian McElhinney, who has a farm at Innisfail, told Reuters that his entire crop was destroyed by Cyclone Larry.

"Even if we do try and pick up the pieces on the farm and go back into bananas, we're still looking at nine months before there's any income," McElhinney said.