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Australia issues warning as tropical cyclone nears

Authorities evacuated campers and closed beaches along one of Australia's most popular vacation coastlines yesterday as forecasters predicted wild weather and waves up to 6m could pummel the region.

Storms that have lashed a long stretch of coastline around the city of Brisbane for several days were forecast to worsen over the weekend and Queensland state officials warned Christmas and New Year's vacationers to take the threat seriously.

Beaches on the Gold Coast, a popular vacation strip, were closed and about 3,000 campers at another popular site, Fraser Island, were told to return to the mainland to avoid the weather.

Queensland Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said the wild weather was caused by a large low pressure system off the coast, and forecasters warned it would get worse.

"We're evacuating people now from the eastern coastline of Fraser Island and we're strongly recommending that all campers leave the island as quickly as possible," he said.

Winds up to 90kph, heavy rainfall, abnormally high tides and big wave swells were forecast for today.

"The conditions are very dangerous," Gold Coast chief lifeguard Warren Young said, warning people to stay away from the water.

No injuries from the bad weather were reported so far.

As Tropical Cyclone Melanie, a Category 2 storm with winds of up to 130kph, sped closer to the northwest coast yesterday, Chevron shut down production at its oil fields.

The storm was estimated to be 375km north of Port Hedland, a key terminal for the shipment of iron ore, and 430km northeast of oil producing region Karratha, the Bureau of Meteorology said. It was moving south at about 11kph.
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