“Reefs for me are places for solitude and thought,” says Australian marine scientist Charlie Veron, here admiring a garden of stony corals on the northern Great Barrier Reef. “But I know there is fragility in their existence. I fear what lies ahead.”
Tens of thousands of people fled the path of a cyclone bearing down on northeastern Australia as officials warned it had increased in strength overnight.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh urged residents of low-lying areas to leave quickly as gusts up to 174 mph were expected ahead of Cyclone Yasi, which was forecast to hit Cairns late Wednesday.
“We are facing a storm of catastrophic proportions in a highly populated area,” Bligh told reporters. “What it all adds up to is a very frightening time. We’re looking at 24 hours of quite terrifying winds, torrential rain, likely loss of electricity and mobile phones.”
