Australia has most powerful cyclone in three decades

A powerful cyclone approached the Australian mining town of Weipa yesterday as residents battened down their homes and authorities closed local schools and canceled flights to and from the remote settlement.

The 2,000-strong bauxiting mining community is on the west side of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland state in the path of Cyclone Ingrid that battered the east coast early yesterday packing winds of up to 230kph.

Ingrid the most powerful storm to hit the Queensland coast in more than three decades. It was as intense as the category 4 cyclones that killed 65 people in the northern city of Darwin in 1974 and seven fishermen off Onslow on the Western Australia state coast in 1995.

Weipa Town Committee chairman Michael Rowland said the community was on high cyclone alert with the cyclone expected to strike late yesterday or early today.

Tropical Cyclone Warning Center supervising meteorologist Phil Alford said the cyclone's power was fading as it barreled across the sparsely populated interior.