Australia Prepares for Cyclone Glenda

Towns alongside Australia's northern coast are preparing for the Cyclone Glenda, a category 4 storm which is expected to bring winds of 250 km/h.

Hundreds of people are evacuated while thousands more will face the severe cyclone, which already caused the shut of oil and gas fields and disrupted iron ore shipments.

The region is still recovering from Cyclone Larry, which hit 2 weeks ago. Some fear that the cyclone might be as destructive as Katrina, which devastated the U.S. city of New Orleans last August.

"This does have the potential to do what happened in the eastern states and what happened in America. Everything is saturated, water is lying everywhere. Flooding is going to be a real problem," State Emergency Services official Steve Cable stated. Glenda is expected to hit near the towns of Karratha and Dampier.

Jim Cahill, from the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia, stated: "We are asking people to stay indoors and to seek shelter. The cyclone is basically very close and there are extreme winds and a lot of danger."

500 people were already evacuated from Karratha, but the cyclone was so close that it prevented others from leaving their homes.

Woodside's production at 100,000-barrel-per-day Cossack oilfield in the Indian Ocean was suspended, while mining giant Rio Tinto said on Tuesday that these conditions will mean the company falls 5 million tons short of its first-quarter iron output target.