Man critical after Olwyn's fury
A driver is fighting for life after a car rollover during the red alert warning for cyclone Olwyn in Carnarvon on Friday.
The town's entire banana crop has been wiped out and hundreds of homes are damaged, with early estimates suggesting the cost of the cyclone could top $100 million.
Police said the injured man, who is French, was in a critical condition in Royal Perth Hospital last night after being injured while driving on Robinson Street as the cyclone swept through the North West about 7.30pm.
Major Crash Det-Sgt Jim Giorgi said it was believed the driver swerved to avoid debris before the car struck a kerb and rolled. A passenger, also from France, has minor injuries.
Fruit and vegetable crops were flattened, roofs torn from buildings and fences and trees uprooted all over town, prompting emergency service crews to be brought in from around the State to help with the clean-up.
Some residents spent most of the weekend without power or water as a result of what locals said was the worst cyclone in more than 50 years.
More than 200km away, Coral Bay was also hit hard, with the town closed to non-residents while workers dealt with fallen trees, powerlines and debris.
Australian Banana Growers' Council director Tom Day said "100 per cent" of Carnarvon's banana trees had been lost.
Carnarvon's bananas account for less than one per cent of national production, which should mitigate the effect on supply and prices.
Vegetables WA chief executive John Shannon said crops of tomato, zucchini and capsicum, among others, had been "pummelled".
Carnarvon shire president Karl Brandenburg said growers had seen their livelihoods wrecked. "With the plantation industry, the horticulture industry, I'm hoping that mental health (services) and those sort of people can assist them," he said.
"They've had droughts, flooding, bushfires, locust plagues, drought again and now a cyclone and that's probably in the last four years.
"They're tough, they'll get themselves back on their feet but you can just imagine how they feel."
He estimated the total damage to crops and infrastructure would be well over $100 million.
WA's Water Minister Mia Davies and Agriculture Minister Ken Baston were in Carnarvon yesterday to assess the damage, as was Federal MP Melissa Price.
North West MLA Vince Catania told a meeting he wanted to see the town declared a natural disaster zone and expected to know more after Cabinet today.
