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Cyclone batters Australia

Similarities to Katrina are strong, but Australia learned from U.S. mistakes.

MELBOURNE, Australia - The emergencies were startlingly similar: a huge, swirling storm bearing down on coastal areas with frightening inevitability.

Monday, within a few hours of the most powerful cyclone to hit Australia in three decades, state and federal governments had declared a state of emergency, prepared helicopters to run rescue missions and announced cash payouts for victims.

Emergency relief officials said they had studied the response to Hurricane Katrina last year - and learned what not to do.

"Everyone here studied Katrina and took a lot of messages away, a lot of lessons at the expense of the poor old Yanks," said Ben Creagh, a spokesman for the Queensland state Department of Emergency Services.

The storms, called cyclones in the region, look and feel like hurricanes, down to naming rights. This one was Larry.

But the scale of destruction didn't compare with that of Katrina when it slammed into the Gulf Coast in August, flooding New Orleans and leaving tens of thousands of people stranded for days.

Larry, a Category 5 storm, roared ashore with 180 mph winds on a northeast coastal belt where one-pub towns have sprung up between sugar and banana plantations. The crops were flattened at a cost of millions, local officials said. Innisfail, a town of fewer than 10,000 people, suffered most, with roofs lifted from scores of homes.

But there was no offshore oil industry to be disrupted. And the region's biggest draw, the diving mecca of the Great Barrier Reef, escaped largely undamaged. And - remarkably, officials said - there were no deaths and only minor injuries. People left town or went to shelters.

By today the storm was well inland and downgraded to a severe low-pressure system.

Australian officials were leaving no room for the outcry about a lack of preparedness and lackluster response that engulfed the White House in the weeks after Katrina.

The Queensland State Emergency Service began issuing public warnings Saturday and stepped up the effort throughout the weekend.

After daybreak, Queensland state leader Peter Beattie declared a state of emergency, allowing federal authorities to get involved.

Prime Minister John Howard sent aides to meet with emergency relief officials, military chiefs and government lawyers to plot a rescue and cleanup strategy.

By Monday afternoon, military helicopters were standing by to fly in medical teams and bring victims out, if necessary. Soldiers were ready to purify water and clear roads.

Howard also announced a cash payment of $720 for each adult and $400 for each child who lost their homes - an initial response that was expected to burgeon.

There was no official count of the homeless Monday, but given the number of homes badly damaged, there could be thousands, said Innisfail Mayor Neil Clarke.

On the Gulf Coast, the response was similar, though far from what was needed.

New Orleans undertook the largest evacuation in its history in a mostly orderly fashion. The National Guard in the coastal states put troops, relief supplies and equipment into position before Katrina hit. Power companies sent in trucks to repair power grids. Relief agencies like the American Red Cross and federal emergency planners moved food, gasoline and first aid into the hurricane zone.

The problem for the Gulf Coast was the response did not match the unprecedented needs after flood walls and levees broke. With more than 70,000 people stranded in New Orleans, resources were stretched to the breaking point.

Creagh conceded it was difficult to compare Larry with Katrina, citing flooding as one big difference.

"Everyone here studied Katrina and took a lot of messages away, a lot of lessons," he said. "There was absolutely no complacency at the planning level at all, and I think that shows."

[Last modified March 21, 2006, 02:30:40]