Cyclone Jasper crashes into Queensland coast, with fruit pickers in panic

Far North Queenslanders were bunkering down in homes or evacuation centres as Tropical Cyclone Jasper, the first cyclone of the season to hit Australia, crossed the coast on Wednesday afternoon.

Jasper began to roll across the coastline near the small Indigenous community of Wujal Wujal – about 170 kilometres north of Cairns – from about 3pm.

Travel in and out of the region was brought to a standstill, as Cairns Airport cancelled 36 flights in and out of the city and roads and highways were blocked by flash flooding.

Police said on Wednesday afternoon 88 people had arrived in two evacuation centres in Cooktown and Edmonton, but they still had capacity for more people.

More than 15,000 people had lost power, while Queensland senator Murray Watt said federal emergency payments were ready to be made.

As blustery winds hit the Cairns CBD, police and SES volunteers prepared for flash flooding amid warnings the region could receive up to 500mm over the next 24 hours.

The streets in flood-prone inner Cairns had been graded with a colour-coded network of likely street flooding.

Hundreds of people had been evacuated from the red zone while shops and businesses were sandbagged.

Jasper formed early in the cyclone season, despite the El Nino pattern that triggered drier conditions, Bureau of Meteorology cyclone expert Laura Boekel said on Wednesday morning.

SES workers with sandbags in Cairns.Credit: Steven Miles

Queensland’s Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association said there would be a huge impact on “more than 1000” backpackers working in hospitality and horticulture jobs in the region.

“Our horticultural growers have a lot of French backpackers and from other places in Europe, and they just want to make sure they are safe,” said Growcom spokeswoman Angela Williams, who returned from Cairns on Monday.

“Some of them are tenting, in caravan parks. We have been directing them to the disaster shelters.”

Lucy Graham, director of the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, said the storm would probably affect consumers in the rest of the country.

“Many of the farmers have been worried about losing all of their crops,” Graham said. “Depending on how the mango farmers go, we might all see our mangoes more expensive for Christmas.”

Fallen trees block traffic on the Mossman Daintree Road in Far North Queensland.Credit: Queensland Police

Williams said the region was in the middle of the avocado, mango and lychee harvest.

Mangoes and pawpaws are being cropped near Mareeba, near the Atherton Tableland, but she said the biggest concern was further north in the Lakeland District, to the north-west of Cairns.

“They grow a lot of avocados and bananas up there. Some rain is welcome, but with the strong winds it’s a bit of a ‘wait and see’ situation.”

Thrashed, wind-damaged nets could also be a problem for lychee farmers, she said.

Graham said erosion from heavy seas and storm surges would likely damage tourist-popular Machans and Holloway beaches near Cairns.

“These two are two of our most ‘at-risk’ locations for coastal erosion,” she said.

Category 4 Cyclone Yasi was the last major cyclone to hit Cairns, in 2011, while category 4 Cyclone Debbie, which wrecked the Whitsundays in March 2017, was the last to cause serious damage in Queensland.