I was a journalist in Cairns at the time and was sent south to cover the preparations for Yasi before bunkering down for the aftermath. We had motels booked from Innisfail to Ingham. A photographer and I stayed in Cardwell for a night before deciding the storm surge posed too much of a threat and moved on.

In 2011, as Cyclone Yasi approached the Queensland coast, I sat in my home in the tropical far north of the state and worried what the future would hold. Would my family be OK? Would our home be destroyed? Would my workplace be damaged and my job uncertain?

Exactly 20 years after Tropical Cyclone Larry devastated Innisfail, another Category 5 cyclone has barrelled into the Far North.