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While all eyes are on Egypt, Queensland, Australia has been hammered by a Category 5 cyclone, leaving devastation in its wake. The images in the CNN video above are stunning and frightening. This storm was worse than Hurricane Katrina, and follows the devastating floods last month.
Anna Bligh, the Queensland premier, said emergency services in the area were reporting that up to 90% of the buildings had been affected. The main street was littered with corrugated iron from rooftops.
On Tuesday night there were about 60 terrified backpackers sheltering in a pub in Tully as rainwater swept through the doors. Local councillor Ross Sorbello ventured out of the car in which he was sheltering. "It is just a scene of mass devastation," he said.
The full picture of the damage will take some time to emerge as power and telecommunications have been cut to many areas and 175,000 homes have no electricity.
Bligh said this morning the cyclone was still an "unfolding event".
"Many things are still unknown and many people are still in danger," she said. "It is only just getting to daylight in some of these towns ... so in some places we've got some early assessments of damage and some places we're yet to get people into."
Despite the damage, cyclone Yasi, caused far less destruction than had been expected, partly because it landed away from the major population centres of Cairns and Townsville.
"It does seem Cairns has been spared the worst and that's a great relief," Bligh told local television. "This has been, I think for many people, a terrifying experience but this morning because so many of them did take precautions, it seems that we certainly kept people safe in those centres and I'm very pleased about that."
The storm has now been downgraded to a category 2 cyclone but is still considered to be dangerous.
And here in the United States, the worst winter storm in decades is hitting the Midwest, closing schools, businesses, and bringing transportation to a standstill.
I sure am glad climate change is a hoax, aren't you? (I'm looking at YOU, Koch brothers)
