Northern Queensland is clearing up after Cyclone Ita brought winds of up to 230km/h (140mph) to north-eastern Australia.

Some communities have been left without power, with damage to some buildings, but no casualties have been reported.

The cyclone made landfall at Cape Flattery but weakened as it travelled inland, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said.

It is the strongest storm to hit since Cyclone Yasi, which struck in 2011.

Previously classed as a category-five storm, Ita was later downgraded by the BOM to category one.

Insurance companies are already expecting damage bill claims from Cyclone Ita could reach $1 billion in North Queensland after it ravaged sugarcane and banana plantations over the weekend. More than 6000 homes and businesses still have yet to get reconnected to the power supply as of Monday.

Cooktown, Townsville, Ingham, Mackay and Cairns were just some of the affected areas.

Peak horticulture organisation, Growcom, completed an initial assessment of damage to horticulture production and infrastructure in the State following the destructive path of Tropical Cyclone Ita along the Queensland coast over the weekend.

Mr Livingstone said that at this stage it looked like about 50 per cent of vegetable production in the Bowen region had been wiped out by severe flooding associated with the cyclone.

“Growers with crops such as tomatoes, capsicums, beans, chillis and eggplants have had a bitter setback,” Mr Livingstone said.

“Growers must start from scratch to prepare their properties for re-planting This will involve laser levelling where flood waters have caused bad erosion, rebuilding trellises and soil conditioning. Growers will have no income from their current crop to pay for the necessary work needed to be done to set themselves up for the next harvest and in some cases won’t receive any income for 12 months,” he said.

Flooding in the Bowen area is reportedly the worst it has been in more than 40 years.

Initial damage reports indicate there have been minimal banana crop losses on an industry-wide basis from Queensland's Tropical Cyclone Ita, but some isolated cases of heavier and severe losses.

Australian Banana Growers’ Council (ABGC) Chairman Doug Phillips said that on an industry-wide basis, the current estimate of losses of bunch-carrying banana trees in north Queensland growing regions was now less than five per cent.

However there were instances of severe or total loss of bunched trees.

The north Queensland growing regions produce about 95 per cent of Australia’s bananas and the Australian industry has an annual production value of $500 million.

Other parts of Queensland had been more fortunate with wind losing intensity rapidly in the Mareeba area. Potato crops suffered minimal damage while avocado, pawpaw and mango trees remain standing.

However, there were individuals in pockets of the North Queensland region with severe damage across all commodities, and avocado crops, for example, would need to be inspected for wind damage to fruit on trees.

“In the main, tree crops and pawpaw and banana production in the Tully region which was so massively damaged in Tropical Cyclone Yasi missed a bullet this time around,” said Mr Livingstone. “Growers estimate only around 5 per cent damage to pawpaw production overall, although some individuals have reported losing around 30 per cent of their crop.”

Mr Livingstone said it would be a couple of weeks before a full assessment could be done since flood waters still impeded growers in some regions from inspecting their properties. In addition, the time spent by crops and trees under flood waters would ultimately affect their survival rate.

“Overall, the cyclone has brought much needed rain to some regions, little infrastructure damage apart from some irrigation lines/sprinklers and while there are currently power outages and road closures it is to be hoped that water will get away swiftly so that there is no threat of fungal diseases causing problems in coming days,” said Mr Livingstone.

“Growers who we were able to speak to us today were in the main highly relieved by the turn of events after expecting a Category 5 cyclone similar to Yasi on Friday night,” he said.

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/