Tropical Cyclone Larry tears into Queensland

The most powerful cyclone to hit Australia in decades smashed into the country's northeast coast yesterday, leaving hundreds homeless and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

Packing up to 290kph, Tropical Cyclone Larry tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees, caused power blackouts and terrified residents who had battened down to prepare for the worst.

"It's just like a bomb has gone off, like something went through and just bombed it," said Amanda Fitzpatrick, owner of a motel outside Innisfail, a farming town in Queensland state in the direct path of the storm.

"It was so terrifying, we were all crying," she told ABC radio.

No were immediately reported from the highest-level Category Five storm, which authorities said was losing steam as it made its way inland after hitting the northeast coast at 8am.

But the Great Barrier Reef, which lies off the coast, was probably severely damaged by the storm, a scientist for the UN's World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said.

Australian Minister John Howard said the government and the military would do everything possible to help victims, adding he was "very confident" there would not be chaos like that in New Orleans last year after Hurricane Katrina.

"If any military assets are needed, they will be readily available," Howard told reporters.

Innisfail the brunt of the destruction, with authorities reporting many houses destroyed and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops -- such as sugar cane, bananas and pawpaws -- wiped out.

"I'd say every second building is damaged," State Emergency Service official Alan Green said.

Power hit up to 50,000 homes and businesses in an area stretching from Cairns to Cardwell south of Innisfail, an official said.

In an echo of the New Orleans hurricane, the local news agency reported that police and locals feared looting could follow the cyclone.

A spokesman for the Goondi Hills Hotel told the agency he already had people trying to steal goods from the extensively damaged building.

Innisfail Des Hensler said the cyclone was the most frightening storm he had seen in the 35 years he had lived in far north Queensland.

"I don't get scared much but this is something to make any man tremble in his boots," he said. "There's a grey sheet of water, horizontal to the ground, and [it's] just taking everything in its path."

Officials that crocodiles and snakes disorientated by the upheaval would pose a particular danger, and that most deaths and serious injuries from cyclones occurred after the winds had subsided.

"Keep your kids away from flooded drains," said Peter Rekers, spokesman for the disaster coordination center in Queensland. "There are lots of dangers."

Thousands people had evacuated coastal towns ahead of the storm and major airlines canceled all flights into Cairns and Townsville, the two biggest cities in the region.

Howard, who will visit cyclone-hit north Queensland this week, said he was relieved few people had been injured and none killed.

"Thank heavens it does not appear as though there have been any very serious injures ... fingers crossed, there are no fatalities and no serious injuries. I hope that continues to be the case," he said.

A tidal surge dumped sand and debris on the doorsteps of some houses, and large waves pounded a coastline famous as a departure point for visits to the Great Barrier Reef marine park offshore.

The cyclone was likely to have caused the death of almost all coral which was in the path of the storm's center, said David Wachenseld, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's director for science.

It was believed to be the most powerful storm to hit Australia since Christmas Day 1974, when Category Four Cyclone Tracy hit the northern city of Darwin, killing 49 people and another 16 at sea.