Thousands of homes still without power after cyclone
Updated
About 30,000 homes in north Queensland were still without power on Monday evening as the major clean-up continues from Cyclone Ului.
Some homes and businesses have not had power since early on Sunday morning when the cyclone crossed the Whitsunday coast at Airlie Beach, north of Mackay, packing 200-kilometres-per-hour winds.
Community groups have organised a free barbecue to feed tourists and residents who cannot withdraw cash from ATMs.
Ergon Energy spokesman Bob Pleash says about 280 workers have been repairing electricity networks in Proserpine, Sarina and Mackay.
"We're anticipating to get the majority of those customers back on line tonight [Monday] and then work through the remaining numbers over the next day or so," he said.
But Midge Point, north-west of Mackay, could be without electricity for a week and emergency supplies are being sent to the area.
The Mackay Regional Council says there is a risk the city will run out of water if residents do not ration supplies.
Whitsunday Mayor Mike Brunker says priority will be given to clearing damaged boats from Shute Harbour near Airlie Beach.
"We lost about 20 boats around there so, I think the harbour is back open down there so Fantasea can get in and out, but there's 20 odd boats at the bottom of the ocean there," he said.
At the height of the then-category three cyclone, it tore roofs off homes, toppled large trees and cut power to more than 60,000 people in the Mackay region.
It caused substantial damage as it crossed the coast between Bowen, south of Townsville, and Mackay.
The weather system is now a tropical low and continues to track west across inland Queensland.
The worst damage is north of Mackay, around Midge Point and Proserpine.
Financial help available
The Federal Government has extended its financial help to cyclone-affected communities.
Residents in the Mackay and Whitsunday council areas can now apply for personal hardship and distress assistance.
It includes an emergency payment of $170 per person and up to $780 for a family.
Other funds available under the scheme include a household contents grant and money to help with repairs.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says the disaster relief fund set up to help people affected by recent floods in the state's south will be extended to those hit by Cyclone Ului.
She says almost $800,000 has been raised so far.
Ms Bligh says the cost of both disaster recovery efforts will be a burden to the state budget.
"We've had our fair share of disasters this season I think it's fair to say, and there will be a cost to that," she said.
"But hats off to the communities of regional Queensland in the south-west and in the far north who had a magnificent response to some very, very extreme circumstances."
Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts says many homes and businesses have been damaged, along with crops.
"In all of these events, it's far too early - you really don't get an indication sometimes for estimates for weeks and sometimes months afterwards," he said.
"Again if we take into account crop damages insurance claims etc, it's just going to be in the millions and millions of dollars."
Midge Point damage
The Mackay Regional Council says it will take months to clean up the mess at Midge Point.
Thousands of trees are down on homes and streets and sheets of aluminium have been stripped from roofs and shredded.
Local SES controller Justin Englert says Midge Point is the main area of concern and a community meeting was scheduled for Monday afternoon.
"That's the opportunity for anyone from that community to go down to the SES headquarters at Midge Point and log with the SES group leader a job that they may need done at their house," he said.
"We're doing that because communications are very poor in that area at the moment."
Midge Point residents say a tidal surge swept water into their streets and homes as the then-category three cyclone passed on Sunday morning.
Mackay Mayor Col Meng toured Midge Point this morning to inspect the damage.
Councillor Meng says it will take months until the seaside town can return to normal.
"There are a number of retirees here - I suppose that's a worry too," he said.
"They're worried about isolation and of course, there's no phones or anything at the moment either."
He says he is surprised no one was seriously hurt.
"There was no one injured up here or certainly no serious injuries - a few cuts and bruises, but I think overall we've come out of it very well," he said.
Vince Olsen lives near the beachfront in the town and says pumicestone and sand is piled up against scores of homes after the ocean moved in.
"We've been trying for years to get a rock wall along here to try and stop this erosion, but if you go down onto the beach now you'll see that all the trees have been uprooted," he said.
The manager of the Midge Point Caravan Park say it took just two hours for the category three cyclone to rip the park apart.
Hundreds of trees have been uprooted and the park's cabins have been demolished.
Park manager Robin Whelan says it will be at least six months before they can reopen.
"One of the hardest things I've had to do this morning is ring all our people that were booked for Easter that come every year and some of them are crying and it's heart-breaking," she said.
Lyn Nicholls moved to a beach front home at Midge Point a fortnight ago and says waves came within metres of her home.
"I went down there yesterday afternoon and I couldn't believe how much of the beach has washed away, how many trees have just sort of sitting there," she said.
"To really get the water just so close to the house, it's really scary.
"We didn't think of salt water - we thought of the wind - because we didn't get sand bags or anything for the front door."
"That's just all pumicestone from the beach, so it has come up that close - that's the scary part."
Communities to the north in Bowen, south of Townsville, escaped the cyclone relatively unscathed.
- Reporting by Josh Bavas, Melissa Maddison, Niki Lyons, Andree Withey, Marlina Whop and Gail Burke
First posted
Zyklon Ului beim Landfall am 21. März 

 Äuch mehrere Tage nach dem Landfall des Zyklons Ului an der Küste von Queensland sind noch tausende von Bewohnern der Region ohne Strom. Das Sturmzentrum hatte am Sonntagmorgen, dem 21. März gegen 1:30 Uhr Ortszeit die Küste zum australischen Festland am Airlie Beach nördlich von Mackay als Zyklon der Kategorie 3 nach der australischen Intensitätsskala überquert. In vielen Ortschaften wurde durch den Sturm, der mit Windgeschwindigkeiten von bis zu 200 km/h über das Land fegte, die Versorgung mit elektrischem Strom unterbrochen. Auf dem Höhepunkt der Stromausfälle waren rund 60.000 Queenslander ohne elektrische Energie.

Die Höhe des Sachschadens ist noch nicht bekannt. Abgesehen von den unterbrochenen Stromleitungen warf der Zyklon, der sich letzte Woche weit vor der Küste im südlichen Pazifischen Ozean gebildet hatte, Boote an Land, deckte Häuser ab und riss tausende von Bäumen um. Besonders betroffen von den Verwüstungen war die Ortschaften Midge Point und Proserpine im Regionalrat Mackay. Bürgermeister Col Meng äußerte seine Überraschung, dass in dem Gebiet keine Personen zu Schaden gekommen seien. „Er gibt niemanden hier draußen, der verletzt wurde oder zumindest keine ernsten Verletzungen – ein paar Schnitte und Schrammen, aber ich denke, wir sind ganz gut davon gekommen.“

Die Zugbahn des Zyklons 
Es wird erwartet, dass in einigen Gebieten die Aufräumarbeiten Monate in Anspruch nehmen werden. Mike Brunker, der Bürgermeister der Region Whitsunday sagte, dass in Shute Harbour etwa 20 Boote gesunken seien, die beseitigt werden müssten. Insgesamt wurden zwischen Shute Harbour und Airlie Beach rund siebzig Boote auf das Ufer geworfen oder sie sind gekentert, von sieben weiteren fehlt jede Spur. Vereinzelt ist es zu Plünderungen dieser Wracks gekommen. Bootsbesitzer Frank Pap klagte, ihm seien von seinem Katamaran Werkzeuge, das GPS-Gerät und ein Stromgenerator geraubt worden. Die Polizei von Airlie Beach gab bekannt, dass Dutzende von Anrufern „Finderlohn“ geltend gemacht hätten. Nach Aussage von Polizeioffizier Neil MacMillan gebe es jedoch keinen Anspruch für etwas, was man Diebstahl nenne.



Der Schaden wird in die Millionen gehen. Queensland hat sich noch nicht vollständig von den Überschwemmungen durch starke Regenfälle Anfang März erholt, die den Haushalt des australischen Bundesstaates erheblich belasten. „Wir hatten unser gerüttelt Maß an Katastrophen in dieser Saison, kann man ruhigen Gewissens sagen und die Kosten dafür werden da sein“, sagte Premierministerin Anna Bligh. Die Regierung des Bundesstaates hat Finanzsoforthilfen von 170 Australische Dollar pro Person und bis zu 780 Australische Dollar pro Familie zur freigegeben. 22 Schulen in der betroffenen Region blieben am Montag, dem 22. März geschlossen. In manchen dieser Schulen besteht Gefahr durch noch nicht beseitigte Trümmer, einige haben keinen Strom.

Der Zyklon hat einigen Gebieten im Zentrum von Queensland bis zu 250 mm Niederschlag gebracht. Die Farmer in der Region befürchten deswegen Ernteausfälle bei Mais und Bohnen. Auch die Tourismusbranche fürchtet wirtschaftliche Folgeschäden. Daniel Gschwind, der Direktor des Touristikverbandes von Queensland wies darauf hin, dass der finanzielle Schaden derzeit zwar gering sei, es aber eine Weile dauerte, bis der Zyklon aus den Köpfen der Touristen verschwunden sei. „Die Störung für das Geschäft ist ziemlich deutlich. Eine Menge Geld wird aus der Wirtschaft gezogen und es wird vermutlich Wochen dauern, um die Branche wieder auf volle Touren zu bringen. Es wird vermutlich einige Zeit dauern, das Vertrauen der Kunden wiederherzustellen, dass es in Ordnung ist, hierher zu kommen,“ stellte Gschwind fest.

Nach Angabe von Queenslands Industrieminister Tim Mulherin wurden auch die Erzeuger von Zuckerrohr in der Gegend um Mackay und Proserpine geschädigt. Der Schaden werde zwar erst in einige Monaten feststehen, aber nach ersten Einschätzungen werde die Ernte zwischen zehn und zwanzig Prozent geringer ausfallen. In dieser Region werden jährlich rund neun Millionen Tonnen Zuckerrohr geerntet, fast neunzig Prozent der insgesamt in Australien angebauten Menge.