Cyclone Yasi upgraded to Category 5 storm – "More life threatening than any in recent generations"

The Bureau of Meteorology has upgraded Yasi to a Category 5 cyclone.

The highest level of storm categorisation, this will bring winds above 280km/h and certain destruction, particularly within the warning areas from Port Douglas to Townsville.

The Bureau warns the impact of the storm is "likely to be more life threatening than any experienced during recent generations". ...

8.06am Premier Anna Bligh has said that people need to get out now. Ms Bligh told Sky News that the storm is going to hit at high tide, putting many coastal regions at even greater risk of tidal storm surges.

She said there's not much time for coastal residents, particularly those between Port Douglas and Townsville, to evacuate.

"People still have a very small window of opportunity to move to a safer place."

8:08am Senior bureau forecaster Gordon Banks told the ABC Yasi could take at least 24 hours to weaken after it makes landfall.

"There's still potential for it to become stronger … as a strong category five we could see wind gusts in excess of 320 kilometres an hour, which is just horrific," he said.

8.37am Anna Bligh this morning told ABC Radio "This is the most severe, most catastrophic storm that has ever hit our coast.

"We've seen a number of worst-case scenarios come together."

8.59am Cyclonic winds more than 280km/h will start from mid-morning and will become more extreme about 8pm or 9pm (AEST).

"Whether it's cyclonic, storm surge or torrential rain, we are facing an extreme event that won't be over in 24 hours but will take several days before the full flooding effect is felt across the region - potentially right through to Mount Isa," Anna Bligh told Sky News.

"Frankly, I don't think Australia has ever seen a storm of this size, this intensity in an area as popular as this stretch of our coast."

9.10am Cairns Mayor Val Schier says the city could see Cyclone Tracy-like scenes when monster Cyclone Yasi hits, and anyone who decides to stay in homes in unsafe areas are on their own.

"We look to what happened with Cyclone Tracy where people ended up under mattresses in bathrooms and that may be the situation here …" she told ABC TV.

"In the end if people want to stay, they're taking responsibility for their own life," she said.

She said stretched emergency services could not be diverted from critical tasks if people made the wrong decision to stay in unsafe areas. ...