Shoppers may be forced to fork out up to $13 a kilo for bananas as 90 per cent of Australia's crop may have been wiped out.

A South Island couple unable to escape Cairns before Cyclone Yasi hit overnight felt so safe in their hotel they slept, then watched the huge storm from their balcony.

Evacuation centres in Cairns and Townsville will remain in lockdown due to a second, dangerous storm surge in the wake of Cyclone Yasi, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says.

Amid the chaos and devastation of Cyclone Yasi, a yet-to-be named baby girl has been born at a Cairns evacuation centre.

Messages from Twitter and Facebook as north Queensland wakes up to the devastation of its worst battering in recent history.

Former Tall Black Phill Jones converted his master bedroom's walk-in wardrobe into a virtual bunker to protect his family against Cyclone Yasi.

Former Auckland police officer Sandy Beckett said he would rather take on a crocodile than sit through Cyclone Yasi.

Cyclone Yasi is building as a storm of unprecedented ferocity - the likes of which hasn't been seen since 1918 - and already it is lashing the Queensland coast.

Get out now. Don't bother to pack your bags. Just gather your family and leave. That's the grave directive Premier Anna Bligh has made to people in low-lying parts of north Queensland under direct threat from monster Cyclone Yasi.

'The most serious cyclone you can have' is how Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is describing the storm set to ravage the state tonight. The storm has been upgraded to a Category Five cyclone - the most severe level imaginable.

Wilma has now well and truly gone, absorbed into the roaring 40s to bring more gales and rain to the South Ocean.

More than 500 people stranded in Coromandel settlements were able to escape yesterday after the smaller slips were cleared from roads in the area.

As the floodwaters left in the devastating trail of Cyclone Wilma subsided yesterday, so the tales of heroism and helping emerged. New Zealanders - many facing clear-ups of their own - came together to help those affected worse than

Very heavy rain is currently spreading over northern New Zealand and is expected to become torrential, with the possibility of flash flooding, as Tropical Cyclone Wilma moves over the north of the country.

A severe tropical storm is closing in on NZ, with some forecasters predicting it will hit with cyclone-strength winds and rain.

Parts of the upper North Island are in for a gusty weekend with exceptionally strong winds and possible flooding forecast.

The remnants of a tropical cyclone are expected to batter the north of NZ with another weekend of strong winds and heavy rain.

The worst of the weather has drifted away from Auckland and Bay of Plenty, but it left a large, soggy footprint on the regions.