A powerful cyclone ripped roofs of houses and uprooted trees near the tropical city of Cairns in Australia's far northeast on Monday, with winds of up to 290 kph (180 mph) devastating local communities and crops.

The sugar-growing town of Innisfail bore the brunt of Cyclone Larry, which left a trail of destruction along 300 km (190 mile) of coastline, stretching south from Cairns to Townsville.

Prime Minister John Howard put Australia's military on alert to help with rescue operations or to move emergency supplies and medical help to the worst-hit areas.

Wayne Coutts, from Queensland's emergency disaster service, said damage reports were so far limited to flooding, uprooted trees and damage to houses.

Police Sergeant Dwayne Amos in Innisfail, a town of about 8,500 people, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that more than half the houses in the town had sustained some damage. He said injuries were all minor.

The Bureau of Meteorology said Cyclone Larry was similar in size to Cyclone Tracy, which killed 71 people and destroyed about 70 percent of the northern city of Darwin in 1974.

Cairns is the main tourist center of north Queensland state, and is a base for visitors to the nearby Great Barrier Reef and inland tropical rainforests.

Up to 250,000 people live in the area, which is also the center of Australia's banana industry and accounts for 25 percent of Australia's sugar cane production.

Australia's Tropical Cyclone Warning Center said the cyclone was a maximum category 5 as it neared the coast, but was downgraded to a category 4 as it hit near Innisfail, sending debris flying and cutting power to 50,000 homes.

Meteorologist Joe Courtney said Cyclone Larry had a narrow zone of destructive winds, compared with Hurricane Katrina which devastated the U.S. city of New Orleans last August.

PHOTO CAPTION

A vehicle drives on a street in rainstorm in Cairns, northeastern Australia, in this image taken from television Monday, March 20, 2006. (AP)