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[RaaArtyGunner]

Trust all you NQ Mayhemers have battened down your Hatches and have your models high and dry.

Good luck

 

[Peter Fitness]

As if Queensland hasn't suffered enough over the last few weeks, residents of the far north of the state are being told to prepare for the biggest cyclone ever to hit Australia. It is a Category 5 storm, which is as big as they get, and is nearly 600km across, with winds in excess of 280kph. It's predicted to cross the coast near Cairns sometime between 10pm and midnight tonight. The Weather Bureau has been tracking it for several days, and residents in the areas likely to be affected have been told to leave if possible. Patients in the Cairns Hospital were transferred by the RAAF to Brisbane hospitals. It is also predicted that even after it crosses the coast and moves west, extremely high winds and torrential rain may have a very destructive effect on areas as far inland as Mount Isa. Many houses in the cyclone prone areas of Australia are built to a standard which is supposed to limit damage by such storms, and many have already weathered these events, but Yasi is the biggest yet, so only time will tell how effective the building code is.

Back in 1974, a cyclone called Tracey devastated Darwin causing enormous damage, but it was "only" classed as a Category 4, so I can't begin to imagine what Yasi may do.

Ironically, the weather here where I live is hot and sunny, with a pleasant sea breeze, but then, Cairns is nearly 2000km north of us.

Peter.

[mcwee]

Hi Peter, i live in Mackay so have been watching Yasi closely. I'm thankful it isnt crossing the coast near us but my thoughts and prayers are with the Cairns/Innisfail/Cardwell locals, and down to Townsville. They are in for an awful time tonight, thats for sure.

Rgds Craig

[PMK]

Word on the street is that the American non-contiguous State of Alaska - the home of the so-called High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) - is the reason for all those phenonemal weather anomolies. Now I hate to sound like some sort of conspiracy weirdo, but by all accounts they (the Yanks) are using high-power directional radio waves of a certain frequency to disrupt and to control the weather/eco systems. Tune your HF radio receiver to somewhere around the 60-metre band and you can actually hear the damn thing in action. Every time they operate it, within a couple of days there always follows a news report of some catastrophe somewhere on the planet.
Coincidental?
The cyclone currently lurking near the Cairns area is reportedly headed for NQ. Given all the recents floods, as if the NQ'ers haven't suffered enough already.

[RaaArtyGunner]

NQ, from Cairns, south to Townsville is in for a bit of a hiding.

All shipping has put to sea and all aircraft have been flown South as Townsville is a large Defence force base and Cairns is RAN Patrol boat base

Would like to think there is no truth in the "experiments" but would they tell us the truth ? of course not.

[Martin (Admin)]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12342031

[RaaArtyGunner]

Interesting trivia,

1974 - Brisbane floods  and Cyclone Tracy. Two disasters in two regions Queensland & Northern Territory. 
2011 - Brisbane floods and Cyclone Yasi. On present indications two disasters in one region, Queensland.  However Yasi's effects may reach all the way to the Nothern territory.

[RaaArtyGunner]

Pinched Seconded the link from Martin's post 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12342031

[Arrow5]

I`m sure we all hope that you come through this with true Aussie grit and that casualties are few. Preparations look good on tv. All the best Cobber

[raymond]

just spoken on the phone to my son and daughter in law in Kewarra beach Cairns they are now geting ready to spend the night bunkered down in the bathroom to sit it out the winds have now started to pickup ,so fingers crossed
           Ray

[Lord Bungle]

hope it passed without to much life loss (hopefully none)
for those that are safe and dry you can watch it here.http://www.ustream.tv/channel/caillins13

for those in the middle of it I hope you are all ok.

[Lord Bungle]

for those that are safe and dry you can watch it here.http://www.ustream.tv/channel/caillins13

for those in the middle of it I hope you are all ok.

[wideawake]

Yasi has just crossed the coast at mission beach according to ABC.I'm watching here in kilbarri WA with my fingers crossed for everyone over in QLD.

Guy

[Peter Fitness]

Yasi crossed the Queensland coast near Mission Beach at midnight as a Category 5 storm. It is now tracking west as a Category 3, and is expected to travel as far as Mount Isa, causing damage to isolated outback communities. Mount Isa is about 800km SW of Innisfail in a straight line. Luckily, it appears that Cairns, a city of over 120,000 people, has avoided the worst of the cyclone, unlike the smaller centres of Mission Beach, Innisfail and Cardwell. These towns are reported as having suffered extensive damage but, thankfully, no deaths have been reported. The winds, estimated to have reached 300kph in places, as well as being very destructive, have created a storm surge in the sea of up to 5 metres, causing flooding of low lying coastal areas, and it's estimated that over 170,000 houses are without power. One lady in a storm affected town told Sky News of finding her neighbour's house in her back garden, while Queensland premier, Anna Bligh, said she heard reports that 90% of buildings in the main street of Innisfail were badly damaged.

A Sky News reporter in Bowen told of very strong winds there, and Bowen is about 460km south of Innisfail, so that gives an indication of the enormous size of the cyclone. It will be a few days before the full extent of the damage is known.

Peter.

[brianB6]

What amazes me is that Innisfail residents had to take refuge in a supermarket! 
I worked in Mauritius for a year in the 1960's and every government school had to be a cyclone refuge.
OK they do not look all that attractive but at least the local community is safe.
I would have thought that after 200 years of cyclones there would at least be a system to protect the population!
Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, and many of the other towns, have a system of oversize gutters and drainage channels to remove the storm water almost as soon as it has fallen.   It was built by the French before Australia was settled!   Why cannot the Australian government authorities provide similar precautions even if the Mauritian ones need to be adapted to less mountainous landscapes?

[RaaArtyGunner]

Brian,

You are absolutely correct, money is blatantly spent in the wrong areas, such as tunnels which are going broke instead of bigger stormwater drains, with one way valves etc.

After each cyclone the building Regulations are reviewed and the Government/councils talk tough enforce cyclone codes and building standards for a limited time, until it gets politically untenable, and then cowtow to vested interresets and all is forgotten until the next cyclone.

You can't build football stadiums (that flood at the first drop of rain) and build cyclone shelters as well. There are no political kudos for cyclone shelters but heaps kudos for stadiums etc.