Australia weathering strong hurricane season

Visible satellite image of Cyclone Monica at peak intensity, 165 mph sustained winds and a 892 mb central pressure. Image taken at 7:30 GMT April 23, 2006 by the GMS satellite. Image courtest of the Navy Research Lab Monster Oz cyclone heads for Darwin April 24 2006 at 02:34PM Sydney - Tropical cyclone Monica slammed into Australia's far-north coast on Monday and continued west towards the city of Darwin that, 30 years ago, was all but obliterated in a storm far less mighty than this one. Monica, a maximum category five cyclone, crossed the Northern Territory coast near the tiny settlement of Maningrida in Arnhem Land. Around Monica's core are wind gusts of up to 350km/h. These are expected to ease and the cyclone be downgraded now that it is over land. Darwin's Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson Mike Bergin estimated Monica would reach Darwin late Tuesday afternoon. "I think it unlikely that she'll be a category five by then - although it's not impossible," Bergin said. .......................... Last month category five Cyclone Larry battered far-north Queensland. Innisfail, home to 8 000 people, recorded the most devastation. Every third house was damaged and the sugar-cane fields and banana plantations that ring the town were flattened. Nobody was killed in Queensland's worst tropical cyclone and there were no serious injuries but the damage bill from Larry was estimated at well over $720-million (about R4-billion). - Sapa-DPA