A cyclone described as the most powerful in Australia's history has struck the country's northeast coast, ripping off roofs and cutting off power to thousands of homes.
"The large desctructive core of Cyclone Yasi is starting to cross the coast between Innisfail and Cardwell, with a dangerous storm tide battering waves to the south of the cyclone centre," the Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday morning.
It said it made landfall around midnight local time (14:00 GMT Wednesday), hours after it was upgraded to a category five storm.
Officials have predicted that the storm will rage at full forces for up to four hours causing substantial damage and possibly deaths.
Strong winds and driving rain have also started battering the coastline, while thousands of residents bunkered down in evacuation centres and their homes.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated while police were forced to turn some away from shelters that had reached capacuty.
Engineers warned that even "cyclone proof" homes could be blown apart by winds expected to reach 300km (186 miles) per hour.
"We are facing a storm of catastrophic proportions," Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said on Wednesday.
More than 400,000 people live in the cyclone's expected path, which includes the popular tourist cities of Cairns, Townsville and Mackay.
The area is also the gateway to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
The stricken area's residents have been warned of an "extremely dangerous sea level rise" and "very destructive" winds accompanying Yasi's arrival, posing a severe threat to life.
'Monumental storm'
Reporting from Cairns, Al Jazeera's Andrew Thomas said this was a cyclone-prone area, "but nothing on this scale," he said, calling Yasi a "monumental storm".
Satellite images showed Yasi covering an area bigger than Italy or New Zealand, and predicted to be the strongest ever to hit Australia.
"What it all adds up to is a very frightening time," state premier Bligh said. "We're looking at 24 hours of quite terrifying winds, torrential rain, likely loss of electricity and mobile phones. People really need to be preparing mentally if nothing else."
The Queensland state premier said current estimates were that 150,000-200,000 people could lose power if winds topple transmission towers.
The storm is to compound misery in the state of Queensland, which has already been hit by months of flooding that killed 35 people and wreaked havoc in hundreds of communities.
"This is a cyclone of savagery and intensity, Julia Gillard, the prime minister, said in a nationally televised news conference just before the storm hit.
"People are facing some really dreadful hours in front of them".
Australia's huge, sparsely populated tropical north is battered each year by about six cyclones, called typhoons, throughout much of Asia and hurricanes in the Western hemisphere.
