Australia dodges cyclone 'bullet', but worse feared

SYDNEYA: cyclone has ripped off roofs

and downed trees and powerlines in flood-battered eastern Australia, but a more powerful storm could wreak greater havoc later this week, officials warned Monday.Tropical Cyclone Anthony, packing winds of up to 150 kilometres (90 miles) an hour, hit the coast of Queensland state late Sunday, uprooting trees and hammering houses but sparing the stricken state from any major damage.

"There's a lot of trees down and that sort of thing, (in) the harbour itself, there's a few boats with torn canopies and a bit of debris around, but not too bad at all," fisherman Terry Much said after Anthony hit the town of Bowen.

Parts of Bowen, which lies about 1,100 kilometres north of the state capital Brisbane, were left without power after the storm the coast before being downgraded to a tropical low as it moved inland.

"We've had a couple of loose sheets of iron on roofs and reports of a few windows on pubs that went out," said Mike Brunker, mayor of Whitsunday, which is just south of Bowen."But as far as that sort of damage, we've dodged a bullet, I think," he told public broadcaster ABC.