Troops began moving aid to the cyclone-shattered town of Innisfail yesterday as residents picked through waterlogged streets littered with rubble and mangled roofs destroyed by Australia's most powerful cyclone in decades.
There still was no official estimate of the number of people left homeless, but the region's mayor said he expected it to be in the thousands. After touring the area and talking to local officials, federal lawmaker Bob Katter told reporters that up to 7,000 people were made homeless by the storm.
"There most certainly would be around 7,000 people ... that are effectively homeless. They're sitting in four walls but no roof," he said.
Katter was speaking after attending a huge barbecue in Innisfail held to feed the local community with meat from butchers that otherwise would soon start rotting due to the lack of electricity to power refrigerators. Hundreds of townsfolk attended the barbecue.
Trucks carrying soldiers rumbled through the streets of Innisfail, the town of 8,500 that bore the brunt of Category-5 Cyclone Larry when it slammed into the coast of northeast Australia just before dawn on Monday.
"One of the most immediate needs is to get shelter over roofless homes, and there are many," said Charlie McKillop, a spokesman for Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, whose department was helping to coordinate aid.
US President George W. Bush called Australian Prime Minister John Howard early yesterday to offer help if needed.
"Of course we are able ourselves to look after this," Howard said. "But it was a very generous, thoughtful gesture on his part and I thank him for it."
Reporters who flew into Innisfail yesterday saw scenes of devastation -- rain forest shredded by the winds, acres of sugar and banana plantations flattened, the trees and cane on the ground next to their stumps, pointing in the direction that the cyclone tore past.
An apartment block with its roof torn off looked from the air like a doll's house.
But despite the widespread destruction, nobody was killed and only about 30 people suffered minor injuries, local officials said.
Rosarie Cullinane, a 24-year-old backpacker from Cork in Ireland, had been working at an Innisfail hostel for six weeks before the cyclone struck, organizing work at local plantations for fellow travelers.
She said backpackers huddled in their hostel wrapped in mattresses as the storm raged outside.
Innisfail's main street was littered with rubble from badly damaged buildings and the corrugated metal used for roofing in the region. In some parts of the street, people waded through knee-deep water.
About 170 troops were helping to deliver aid, while cleanup and special search and rescue crews were heading to the town. The military also was transporting a mobile kitchen and water purification plant to Innisfail.
Among other supplies flowing into the town were nearly 40,000 liters of water, 6,000 in-flight meals provided by national flag carrier Qantas, and gas and gasoline.
Police also sent extra officers to the region to help in the clean-up.
Howard yesterday pledged aid to the shattered communities and said he would visit them today.
Meanwhile, weather forecasters warned of a Category-2 cyclone, Wati, brewing over the ocean east of Australia and expected to hit Queensland south of where Larry struck, later in the week.
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