Cyclone Yasi

[c_q]

From the BOM website-

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

"SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE YASI IS A LARGE AND VERY POWERFUL TROPICAL CYCLONE AND POSES AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN CAIRNS AND TOWNSVILLE.

DURING THE EVENING, THE VERY DESTRUCTIVE CORE OF CYCLONE YASI WILL CROSS THE COAST BETWEEN CAIRNS AND INGHAM, ACCOMPANIED BY A DANGEROUS STORM TIDE SOUTH OF THE CYCLONE CENTRE.

Tropical Cyclone Yasi, CATEGORY 5, will continue to move in a west-southwesterly direction. The cyclone is expected to cross the coast between Innisfail and Cardwell close to midnight.

Coastal residents within the warning area, and particularly between Cairns and Proserpine including the Whitsundays, are specifically warned of an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SEA LEVEL RISE [i.e. storm tide] as the cyclone approaches, crosses the coast and moves inland. The sea is likely to steadily rise up to a level which will be VERY DANGEROUSLY above the normal tide, with EXTREMELY DAMAGING WAVES, STRONG CURRENTS and FLOODING of low-lying areas extending some way inland. People living in areas likely to be affected by this flooding should take measures to protect their property as much as possible, and be prepared to follow instructions regarding evacuation of the area if advised to do so by authorities.

DAMAGING WINDS with gusts to 90 km/hr are currently affecting the coast and islands, and are forecast to spread into the tropical interior overnight and west to Julia Creek during Thursday.

Between Port Douglas and Ayr these winds will become DESTRUCTIVE with gusts in excess of 125 km/hr developing during this afternoon and early evening, spreading into the tropical interior overnight. VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds with gusts up to 290 km/hr are expected to develop between Cairns and Ingham during the evening as the cyclone approaches and crosses the coast. These VERY DESTRUCTIVE winds will also occur on the seaward side of hills to the north of the cyclone and also affect the Atherton Tablelands.

Due to the large size of the cyclone, people in the path of the VERY DESTRUCTIVE WINDS are likely to experience these conditions for about 3 to 4 hours.

Winds are forecast to gradually ease about the east coast during Thursday morning as the cyclone moves inland.

FLOODING RAINS will develop from Cooktown to Sarina during the afternoon and then extend inland overnight."

It is going to get ugly up north tonight, for anyone on this forum who lives up the NQ coast, stay safe.

[c_q]

From the SMH today

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/we...201-1acgp.html

Too late to leave: residents told to bunker down
Staff reporters
February 2, 2011

Evacuation centres in Cairns are rapidly filling up as residents are told it is too late to flee the city ahead of Cyclone Yasi's arrival.

With wind speeds of 295km/h recorded, storm surges of up to 7 metres have been predicted to hit Cardwell, between Townsville and Cairns, as the cyclone's expected arrival at midnight combines with a high tide.

Regional Traffic Co-ordinator Inspector Robert Waters has told motorists their window to leave Cairns had effectively closed.

Police have urged "frantic" motorists trying to escape Cairns to remain calm.

“Heading south on the highway to outrun the cyclone, it is probably too late for that now,” Inspector Waters said.

“Basically if you haven’t already left Cairns, if you haven’t worked out a specific destination within a reasonable driving distance, you have probably left it too late and we suggest you go to the shelters that are advertised by the councils.

"If you are heading to friends and family, please do so safely.”

He said officers had reported seeing fleeing families driving too fast and without care on the roads.

Four of the seven evacuation centres in Cairns are now full as the severe category five system approaches the coast and it is getting too late for people to go to such facilities, police say.

A police spokeswoman said four centres – Stockland Earlville Shopping Centre, Woree State High School, James Cook University student accommodation facility and Mossman Community Indoor Sports Centre – were now at capacity.

“Pretty much we’re saying if people haven’t gone to a centre by now they should be staying indoors,” a police spokeswoman said just after 11am local time.

Huge storm surge

State disaster co-ordinator Ian Stewart said Cardwell could experience a storm surge of 6.5 to 7 metres above the normal high tide, and lives were at stake.

Premier Anna Bligh said the bureau’s updated prediction the cyclone would cross the coast between Innisfail and Cardwell around midnight tonight was accurate to a 30km degree of accuracy.

Ms Bligh said the wind gusts at the centre of the cyclone were 295km/h. She added dangerous swells could extend as far south as the Sunshine Coast and urged people to stay out of the water.

Ms Bligh said 9500 people were now in the 20 evacuation centres between Cairns and Townsville.

She said there is still some spare capacity in some of these evacuation centres, but time was rapidly running out.

Ms Bligh said many evacuation centres would not provide beds and all space would be used “to preserve human life” and it would not be possible to accommodate pets.

She said it was hard to contemplate the “frightening circumstances” people were facing, without electricity or mobile communications and possibly with roofs coming off.

“People who are bunkered in their house are safer in their house even if part or all of their roof comes off,” she said, urging people not to run off in the midst of the cyclone.

Yasi closes in

At 10am Queensland time, Cyclone Yasi was located about 445 kilometres east of Cairns and 455 kilometres north-east of Townsville and moving west-south-west at 30km/h.

The bureau warned the cyclone was “a large and very powerful tropical cyclone and poses an extremely serious threat to life and property within the warning area, especially between Cairns and Townsville”.

“This impact is likely to be more life-threatening than any experienced during recent generations,” the latest warning said.

The bureau predicts the cyclone will continue to move in a west-south-westerly direction during the day and cross the coast in the Innisfail area about midnight tonight.

Weather station down

The Bureau of Meteorology’s weather radar on Willis Island has been knocked out by the approaching cyclone, with huge winds recorded just after 8am local time before it went down.

“The highest wind we did record was a gust up to about 180km/h before it failed,” a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said.

The weather station was now providing only limited data of pressure and temperature, he said.

Willis Island is north-east of Cairns.

Townsville to be inundated

More than 10,000 homes in Townsville are at risk of inundation from the massive storm surge.

Townsville disaster management group deputy chairman Dale Last said authorities feared the surge could be 2.9 metres on top of a very high tide of about 4.1 metres, due about 9pm.

He said beachfront and low-lying areas would be affected, including parts of Townsville’s CBD.

Mr Last said evacuations started on Tuesday and so far people were co-operating.‘

‘People are co-operating and are evacuating and many people on high ground are taking in strangers,’’ Mr Last said.

Category five

Earlier today, Cyclone Yasi was upgraded to a category five cyclone, surpassing the size and destructive intensity of cyclones Larry and Tracy.

It is expected to smash into the coast near Cairns tonight with furious winds, torrential rain and floods adding to Queensland's massive damage bill from natural disasters this summer.

Senior bureau forecaster Gordon Banks said Yasi could take at least 24 hours to weaken after it makes landfall.

The storm surge is expected to reach 2.5 metres above the highest tide, inundating the Cairns CBD.

[Guest]

Putting up with a life-threatening storm is easier than having to listen to a Gillard speech on the matter.

[Guest]

So scary. I thought it was disgusting that Today Tonight had a countdown! It's not New Years Eve!

[Pass the Ball]

What a wimp Yosi turned out to be...

[Guest]

Putting up with a life-threatening storm is easier than having to listen to a Gillard speech on the matter.

It was painful listening her wasn't it. I swore if she said "the people of queensland" one more time I was going to punch my mother in law right in the face.

Chook.

[Guest]

It was painful listening her wasn't it. I swore if she said "the people of queensland" one more time I was going to punch my mother in law right in the face.

Chook.

How's your mother in law's recovery progressing?

[Guest]

How's your mother in law's recovery progressing?

Good, once the swelling goes down she should be able to see enough to drive herself to the hospital.

Chook.

[Guest]

So the final tally is one moron who locked himself in a shed with a petrol generator.

The Telerag have tried to make it out that Yasi (which must mean Gillard in Fijian as it made a lot of noise and did a lot of damage but affected no-one really) is a killer because of this.

There's a Latin term, Post Hoc Proctor Hoc, which means "after this because of it." That means the man wouldn't have died if he hadn't been sheltering in the shed from the cyclone. This is the Telegraph using casuistry (though I doubt Hartigan and his year 8 drop outs that pass for reporters would know what that was, let alone how to spell it) to sell more papers.

It's not that the quality of Journalism has dropped in this country, it's the fact that it's dropped so far that angers me the most.

[Kingbilly]

Australian media coverage of tragic events is so annoying.
There is the that notion that the coverage is giving it the exposure so people donate etc, but the interviews the speils are just so pathetic.

Now I see ads for 60 mins and an interview with a woman that lost her child during the floods. This is such a sad story and it really pisses me off its being splashed around as a revenue raiser for a show with such low integrity

[Guest]

Australian media coverage of tragic events is so annoying.
There is the that notion that the coverage is giving it the exposure so people donate etc, but the interviews the speils are just so pathetic.

Now I see ads for 60 mins and an interview with a woman that lost her child during the floods. This is such a sad story and it really pisses me off its being splashed around as a revenue raiser for a show with such low integrity

Totally agree, we had a nasty fatality last week on the Illawarra line, very messy indeed, within 30 minutes there were 3 tv crews and at least half a dozen journos prying information and fighting for the best camera angle, the bloke was spread over 50 mtrs for farks sake.

I blame the majority of society these days, the modern generation has become immune to horrible trajedy, the more we see, the more we want.

[stephenj]

wewre trying to copy the yankee journalists but not doing very well! why would we take our lead from such a low level of expertise to begin with?

[Guest]

So the final tally is one moron who locked himself in a shed with a petrol generator.

The Telerag have tried to make it out that Yasi (which must mean Gillard in Fijian as it made a lot of noise and did a lot of damage but affected no-one really) is a killer because of this.

There's a Latin term, Post Hoc Proctor Hoc, which means "after this because of it." That means the man wouldn't have died if he hadn't been sheltering in the shed from the cyclone. This is the Telegraph using casuistry (though I doubt Hartigan and his year 8 drop outs that pass for reporters would know what that was, let alone how to spell it) to sell more papers.

It's not that the quality of Journalism has dropped in this country, it's the fact that it's dropped so far that angers me the most.

It is pure trash isn't it! TV, radio, papers, they are nothing but mediums of marketing, advertising and mis-information. The age ole axiom is true, a dumb populace is easy to control through the manipulation of information. Our societies own ignorant stupidity is being institutionlised through privately owned media.

Chook.

[Guest]

It is pure trash isn't it! TV, radio, papers, they are nothing but mediums of marketing, advertising and mis-information. The age ole axiom is true, a dumb populace is easy to control through the manipulation of information. Our societies own ignorant stupidity is being institutionlised through privately owned media.

Chook.

Chook, this clip from the 1988 movie Talk Radio sums up all I feel about people.