Queenslanders are breathing a sigh of relief this morning after Premier Anna Bligh confirmed that there have been no reports of lives lost from Cyclone Yasi, which ripped through the far north of the state last night.
Bligh also said that the heavily populated centres of Cairns and Townsville have been spared the worst of the cyclone, although the coastal communities of Mission Beach, Tully, Tully Heads, and Cardwell face huge clean-ups after copping the full force of the winds and rain.
While the damage is still being assessed in those towns, it appears the devastation has left thousands homeless.
About 175,000 homes in the region remain without power, and the Government will focus on restoring essential services after it has had a chance to survey the damage.
“We’ve got significant power outages all the way along the coast down to Proserpine and Airlie Beach hundreds of kilometres away from the eye of this storm,” Bligh said this morning.
“Potentially there’s quite a lot of structural damage to essential services.”
But while yesterday’s extensive evacuation and storm preparation work appear to have limited the damage in Far North Queensland’s populous areas, Bligh says emergency services are yet to gain access to some remote areas.
“It’s far too early yet to start talking about dodging bullets,” she said.
The business fallout from the cyclone has also started.
Sugarcane industry group Canegrowers said the cyclone had struck at one of the industry’s most important growing areas, and has estimated the potential damage bill to the sector at $500 million. The sugar price has hit 30-year highs on news of the cyclone.
Mines and other resources sector infrastructure such as rail links and ports have also been closed, as the cyclone sweeps inland towards the mining centre of Mount Isa.
The insurance sector is also bracing for its second major disaster in the space of a month. Early estimates suggested the cyclone could cost the areas major insurers, Suncorp and Insurance Australia Group as much as $115 million, although this is likely to be reduced by re-insurance. Suncorp’s expects re-insurance will cap its exposure to $10 million.
However, Australia’s run of recent natural disasters could mean the local insurance sector’s ability to get re-insurance in the future is limited.
Swiss re-insurance Swiss Re has suggested Australia may be re-rated from a risk point of view, a move which would be likely to lead to higher insurance premiums.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
