BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has appealed for patience as torrential rain frustrates efforts to restore essential services across the Australian state's north.

    "When you get a category five cyclone which belts the hell out of the community, you're not going to restore (services) in 30 seconds," he told Sky News. "That is going to take days and weeks," he said.

    Emergency crews said Wednesday they were doing their best to repair damage to power and water supplies at Innisfail, whose 8,500 residents bore the brunt of Cyclone Larry, but continuing bad weather was hampering clean-up efforts.

    Cyclone Larry, Australia's most powerful in 30 years, hit its northeast coastline on Monday morning, leaving 7,000 people in the region homeless. But there were no deaths and only some minor injuries.

    Australian Prime Minister John Howard will tour the cyclone-devastated far northeast coast on Wednesday.

    He said many of those worst hit would need assistance with day to day living because their livelihoods had been destroyed.

     Up to 250,000 people live in the area devastated by Cyclone Larry, which is also the centre of Australia's banana industry and accounts for 25 percent of Australia's sugar cane production.

    Cyclone Larry devasted sugar cane and banana crops, with industry groups expecting raw sugar production for the world's third-largest exporter to be cut by 500,000 tonnes, or 10 percent. About 90 percent of Australia's banana production is believed to have been wiped out.

    Media reports are putting the value of the damage caused by Cyclone Larry at anywhere between 350 million to 700 million US dollars. Enditem

    (Agencies)