Cyclone Yasi Batters Australia

This image provided by NASA shows Tropical Cyclone Yasi as it approaches Queensland, Australia, Wednesday Feb. 2, 2011. This NEXSAT image captured this natural-color image at 04:32 GMT Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011.

A store owner tapes his glass storefront in preparation for Cyclone Yasi on Feb. 2, 2011, in Cairns, Australia.

Townsville resident Paul Brodie boards up his shop windows in preparation for Cyclone Yasi on Feb. 2, 2011, in Townsville, Australia.

Sand bags cover the front of a shop in Townsville in preparation for Cyclone Yasi on Feb. 2, 2011, in Townsville, Australia.

Sand bags are deployed as businesses prepare for the storm surge ahead of Cyclone Yasi on Feb. 2, 2011, in Cairns, Australia.

Supermarket shelves are running empty as Queenslanders brace themselves for Cyclone Yasi on Feb. 2, 2011, in Cairns, Australia.

Patients wait in the International Terminal Building before being loaded onto Royal Australian Air Force C-17 and C-130 aircraft as hospitals are being evacuated to Brisbane ahead of Cyclone Yasi at Cairns Airport on Feb. 2, 2011.

Guests at a the Shangri-La hotel huddle in the ballroom in Cairns, Australia, Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011, as a monster cyclone approaches the northeast coast with furious winds, rains and surging seas on a scale unseen in generations.

An official from Queensland Health, left, addresses patients as they wait to be evacuated to Brisbane ahead of Cyclone Yasi at Cairns Airport on Feb. 2, 2011.

Hundreds of frightened residents flood into the evacuation center in the old Town Hall as catastrophic Cyclone Yasi approaches Innisfail on Feb. 2, 2011.

People crowd into an emergency evacuation center at Earlville Shopping Centre as low lying areas of the city were evacuated ahead of a huge tidal storm surge predicted to accompany Cyclone Yasi in Cairns on Feb. 2, 2011.

Clouds form over the central business district on Cairns waterfront as Queenslanders brace themselves for Cyclone Yasi on Feb. 2, 2011.

Clouds form over the waterfront as Queenslanders brace themselves for Cyclone Yasi on Feb. 2, 2011, in Cairns, Australia.

Bats fill the air over the deserted central business district as winds increase velocity ahead of Cyclone Yasi in Cairns on Feb. 2, 2011.