Australian cyclone damage in millions

CAIRNS, Australia — Metal roofs littered streets on Monday, 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.

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. The storm was well inland today and downgraded to a severe low pressure system.

"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."

Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday pledged his administration would help shattered communities rebuild.

"The federal government will give what is needed to get these communities back on their feet," Howard said in a radio interview. "We just need a day or two to make a proper assessment of how the money can best be spent."

Innisfail urgently needs accommodation for people whose homes were damaged and a power supply to feed hospitals and other infrastructure, Clarke said.

There was no official count of the homeless Monday, but given the number of homes badly damaged, the figure could run into the thousands, Clarke said.

The casualty toll was so low because people left town or went to shelters after authorities posted warnings. Residents and officials were mindful of the damage Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans and Mississippi last August, said Ben Creagh, a spokesman for Queensland state Department of Emergency Services.

"Everyone here studied Katrina and took a lot of messages away, a lot of lessons at the expense of the poor old Yanks," Creagh said. "There was absolutely no complacency at the planning level at all, and I think that shows. … Good planning, a bit of luck — we've dodged a bullet."

Within hours of the storm's landfall, officials declared a state of emergency, prepared Black Hawk helicopters to run rescue missions and announced cash payouts for victims — $720 for each adult and $290 for each child who lost their home.