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Upgrading Yasi to category 5, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast the cyclone to cross the coast around the Innisfail area around midnight.
Gusts of up to 300 kilometres per hour are expected between Cairns and Ingham.
The bureau forecast flooding rains to strike from Cooktown in the north to Sarina, south of Mackay and the closed Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay coal terminals.
The Abbot Point Coal Terminal near Bowen is also closed with Queensland Rail National suspending services on the Goonyella and Newlands rail networks yesterday.
“Coal train services in the Blackwater and Moura coal systems into the Port of Gladstone continue to operate,” QRN said.
Mines in the northern Bowen Basin could be impacted by gales with Rio Tinto already shutting down its Hail Creek open cut mine.
