Troops deliver aid to cyclone-shattered town in Australia

INNISFAIL, Australia — Soldiers carried aid to this cyclone-shattered town of 8,500 today as residents picked through streets littered with rubble and mangled roofs destroyed by one of Australia's most powerful cyclones in decades.

Troop trucks rumbled through the streets of Innisfail, which bore the brunt of Category 5 Cyclone Larry when it slammed into the coast of northeast Australia just before dawn Monday. By today, it had been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Amazingly, the storm caused no reported fatalities, and only 30 people suffered minor injuries.

Reporters who flew into Innisfail today saw scenes of devastation — rain forest shredded by the winds, acres of sugar and banana plantations flattened.

"It looks like it's just been napalmed," said helicopter pilot Ian Harris. "That's normally pristine rain forest."

An apartment block with its roof torn off looked from the air like a doll's house. A resident inside was picking through the wreckage.

The town's main street was littered with rubble. In some parts of the street people waded through knee-deep water.

Prime Minister John Howard today pledged that his administration would help shattered communities rebuild.

Queensland state political leader Premier Peter Beattie said it could take days to restore power and water supplies to Innisfail, a farming town 60 miles south of the major tourist town of Cairns.

There was no official count of the homeless, but given the number of homes badly damaged, the figure could run into the thousands, said Neil Clarke, mayor of Johnstone Shire which includes Innisfail.

The casualty toll was so low because people left town or went to shelters after authorities posted warnings. Residents and officials were mindful of the damage Hurricane Katrina did to New Orleans and Mississippi last August, said Ben Creagh, a spokesman for Queensland state Department of Emergency Services.

"There was absolutely no complacency at the planning level at all, and I think that shows. ... Good planning, a bit of luck — we've dodged a bullet," he said.

Farmers were among the hardest hit. The region is a major growing region for bananas and sugar cane, and vast tracts of the crops were flattened.

The storm was the most powerful to hit Australia since Christmas Eve 1974, when Cyclone Tracy destroyed the northern city of Darwin, killing 65 people.