Two of the publishing giant’s Queensland production sites were in the cyclone’s path: its Cairns print plant and the Townsville site, which recently underwent a $52m upgrade.

The decision was taken not to print in Cairns on Wednesday night although printing continued at the Townsville site.

One of biggest production reshuffles was for the Thursday edition of The Cairns Post. A news team working out of The Sebel Hotel sent stories down to Brisbane to be laid out, with pages sent back to Cairns for printing on Thursday morning.

The edition missed its normal early morning delivery but was on the streets by midday Thursday. “We weren’t concerned about that: most people were told to stay in doors until well after dawn,” said Greg Baxter, director of corporate affairs at News Ltd.

“Last night, we printed in both cities [Cairns and Townsville] even though there’s still no power in Townsville; we have our own power in Townsville,” added Baxter.

“We had a very well thought through safety plan for our staff. Any staff working through that night and yesterday had to stay in contact with a central point of contact every two hours,” he said.

He said there were around 30 News Ltd people on assignment in the region during the cyclone. 

The Friday and Saturday editions of The Australian and the Courier Mail are being produced in both Cairns and Townsville because of transport difficulties between the cities.

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