Panic grips Australia as twin cyclone threat looms

January 30, 2011 – BRISBANE -Store shelves have been stripped bare for the 2nd time in a month. Hundreds of thousands of Queenslanders are being urged not to “panic buy” as two powerful cyclones threaten to batter the flood-ravaged state. Residents living on the 1700-kilometre strip from Hervey Bay to Cooktown have been told by authorities to prepare for the worst. Cyclone Anthony is expected to hit near Townsville at 10am tomorrow. It is feared a second cyclone, named Yasi, will develop from an intense tropical low near Fiji. Yesterday in Cairns, residents descended on the Earlville Shopping Centre, stocking up on essentials such as food, water and batteries. A spokeswoman for the IGA supermarket at Woree said people were panic buying. “People are certainly panicking. They’re buying a lot of water and a lot of grog – the essentials,” she said. “People are making sure they are covering their bases by panicking but they’re buying stuff they probably won’t end up using. Me, I can live off the land if I need to. Most people can’t, though.” Deputy Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, who is Queensland’s state disaster co-ordinator, told a press conference yesterday people should stock up but not panic about what might happen. “It’s a normal stock-up of the essentials. While some people are concerned, the potential for these events is of such a nature that it would be way too late to prepare next week,” he said. –SMH