A best boating photos special on the devastation caused by Cyclone Yasi at Port Hinchinbrook harbour in Queensland, Australia
Around 60 boats have been severely damaged or destroyed after Cyclone Yasi hit the Australian town of Cardwell on Wednesday. Winds of more than 105mph and a resulting storm surge tore many boats from their moorings in Port Hinchinbrook marina and left them piled on the shoreline and even in nearby streets.
A police spokesman said: “There’s got to be AU$20-30 million (£12.5-19 million)
worth of ships wrecked here.”
“A lot of vessels broke moorings so we are trying to map out where all
the vessels ended up.
Fears were held for the safety of one local man who was reported to be sailing offshore when the Category 5 storm struck the coast.
The man was last heard from on Tuesday while attempting to move his yacht to a more sheltered area among the mangroves until he sailed back into Hinchinbrook harbour today, after seeing out the cycone on his yacht.
The sailor’s safe return means the death toll from Cyclone Yasi remains at one, after a 23-year-old man from Ingham suffocated from using a generator inside a closed room after Cyclone Yasi cut power supplies.
