Cyclone Yasi estimated to cause between $2 billion and $5 billion in damages: Eqecat

Catastrophe modeller Eqecat forecasts losses stemming from the severe tropical cyclone Yasi to range from $2 billion to $5 billion.
Yasi hit the flood-ravaged state of Queensland, Australia as a category 4 Saffir Simpson Scale cyclone on Feb. 3.
Eqecat compared the storm to Cyclone Larry, a Category 3 cyclone that hit the same area in 2006 and caused nearly $1 billion in damages.
“Both storms occurred in an area of modest coastal population density distant from the urban centre of Brisbane,” an Equecat release says. “However, Yasi is a much broader storm (an exceptionally large eye with a diameter of 100 km), affecting a much larger populace and an area roughly five times the area impacted by Larry.”
Yasi’s radius of hurricane force winds was approximately 80 nautical miles compared to Larry’s radius of 15 nautical miles.