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It was quite an ordeal for one Japanese woman during the height of Cyclone Yasi. Not only was she taking refuge in an evacuation center, but she went into labor.
A Japanese woman gave birth to a baby girl inside a crowded evacuation center at the height of Cyclone Yasi.
Akiko Pruss and her German husband Christian and their first child were taking refuge in Red Lynch College, a school in Cairns, when her water broke.
[Jason Sydenham, Evacuee]:
"I'm sure it was a harrowing moment."
British midwife Carol Weeks emerged as one of the heroes of the night, after helping deliver the baby in a makeshift first aid room.
Weeks was on vacation with her husband Andrew in Queensland to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary... when they were forced to take shelter due to the Category Five storm.
The proud parent delivered a healthy girl baby after a three hour labor.
[Linda Cooper, Evacuee]:
"Very very smoothly. She's either got a very high pain threshold or she's a very strong woman. But obviously we've got no pain relief or anything here for her so a very natural birth in the most unnatural of circumstances...I said are we going to call the baby Yasi, and she actually threw a cup at me."
Many people were astounded that Cyclone Yasi - which packed winds of up to 186 miles an hour at its core - did much less damage than feared.