[WeatherOp]

This was posted over at the Wx forum, doesn't sound good at all, this hit with the force of Rita at full strength.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4823580.stm

[Grug]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18529509-2,00.html

Hehe, trust you to be following it.

Yeah it hit Innisfail the most. It is fairly small in size though, and such doesn't cover much area. It went across just below Cairns, and is already burning out I believe.

I can see the clouds moving high and fast west over my place out towards it. Though I'm more worried about the second one which looks like it may be coming further south, possibly to hit Townsville (have cousins there), or if it goes south enough, me. I hope they go west and rain heaps to give a bit of drought relief though.

It's good to know we already have supplies and army support waiting to go in as soon as it dies down though. There's an army base in Townsville, though they evacuated out somewhere else (can't recall at the top of my head). But they have all the black hawks ready to go supposedly. Still waiting for how bad it is over ground zero though.

Had some old lady ringing up on the news who'd lived through Cyclone Tracey and was saying this one was nothing, there was still leaves on the trees.
But tracey moved slowly (8km/h iirc) and hit Darwin for a full 24hrs of high winds. This one passed over the coast fairly quickly, which saved a bit of trouble.

But yeah, just have to wait and see I guess...

[WeatherOp]

Yeah, it was pretty small, about the size of Andrew. But, I don't know about that comment about Tracey, from what I've heard this was a good bit stronger. And the eye looked to be about ten miles across, so I suspect they haven't found the worst damage yet.

Was the place it hit fairly populated or not?

[Grug]

Innisfail?
Well its considered a town more so than a city iirc, Cairns and Townsville are the more well known cities, and it's located between the two slightly more north towards Cairns. Doesn't make it any less significant however. Apparantly every one in three houses have lost roofs or been toppled or something. The problem is all the roads to get in there are closed off, flooded, or otherwise untraversable. So there arn't any images atm, just going by phone calls etc.

Apparantly they were going to fly some jets over the top to try and find out how bad the situation is.

[WeatherOp]

Wow 180mph winds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4823580.stm

Don't know where this quote come from, but it was posted on the Wx forum.

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A powerful tropical cyclone ripped the roofs off buildings and uprooted trees in northeastern Australia, tearing across the region on Monday with devastating winds that pinned emergency workers inside despite pleas from terrified residents.

With winds up to 180 mph at its height, Tropical Cyclone Larry smashed into the coastal community of Innisfail, about 60 miles south of Cairns, a popular jumping-off point for the Great Barrier Reef, sending hundreds of tourists and residents fleeing for higher ground.

Des Hensler, an Innisfail resident, sheltered alone in a church, up to his ankles in water.

"I don't get scared much, but this is something to make any man tremble in his boots," he told the Seven television network. "There's a gray sheet of water, horizontal to the ground, and just taking everything in its path."


About a dozen people had been reported with minor injuries, said Jim Guthrie, a spokesman for Queensland state's health department.

"This is far north Queensland and most people live with cyclones year in year out. They do take precautions," he said. "We've come out of it extremely well."

At the storm's height, police said they were unable to venture out to help fearful residents who called to say the gale-force winds had ripped the roofs off buildings and destroyed their homes.

Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie declared a state of emergency.

"It's the worst cyclone we've had in decades," Beattie told the Nine television network Monday.

The Bureau of Meteorology on Monday upgraded the cyclone to a Category 5 - the strongest category possible - shortly before it crossed the coast, but then lowered it to a Category 3 as the storm crossed land and weakened, with wind gusts up to 125 mph.

The storm passed directly over Australia's Great Barrier Reef, but there was no immediate word on what damage the reef may have suffered.

With reports of extensive damage across the northeastern coast, government and emergency officials were meeting Monday in Canberra to discuss sending troops to help clean up the cyclone-stricken area.

"If any military assets are needed, they will be made available," Prime Minister John Howard said.

Howard said he was confident the cyclone would not result in the chaos seen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The storm has already devastated the region's multimillion-dollar banana and sugar farming industry, said George Pervan, deputy mayor of Johnstone Shire Council.

"The crops are all gone, bananas are all flattened, cane's flattened. It'll kill us for 12 or 18 months," Pervan said.

Up to 50,000 homes in the region were without power, and were expected to remain without electricity for several days, said Gaylene Whenmouth, a spokeswoman for Ergon Energy Cairns.

"It is still too windy to send crews out to do restoration, but we will be doing that as soon as we can, whenever it is safe to do so," Whenmouth said.

State Disaster Coordination Center spokesman Peter Rekers said thousands of volunteers were on standby to help with the cleanup, and warned residents to be on their guard for deadly animals stirred up by the storm.

"Keep your kids away from flooded drains, be aware of snakes and crocodiles," he said. "Those guys will have had a bad night too."

[Kosh]

What is it with all the cat 5 hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons these past couple of years?

[Grug]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18544872-2,00.html

Yeah, cat-5 supposedly. The damage to the towns doesn't look all that bad compared to some other ones apparantly. The real damage is where it hit the crops. That one cyclone just wiped out around 90% of Australia's Bannana supply. (we don't import them) All the apes are going to be furious. =S

[WeatherOp]

Yeah, that economics lose is really gonna cost them over the next few years. And sadly with that other cyclone approaching, more could be added to those loses by next week.

But, one thing I cannot believe is that I haven't heard of one death yet. And that is just amazing.

[Grug]

Yeah. Hopefully the death count stays at 0 too.
North queensland has lived through so many cyclones and large storms the place is more or less built and lived around the idea. Near all the buildings are supposedly cyclone resistant, and the people know when to leave etc.
Most of the place was evacuated before hand, considerably much easier to do with a smaller population.

Yeah economically its gonna sting big time. 4000 people are going to be unemployed in the coming weeks, primarily from the farming jobs. =/

[Mefustae]

Is it just me, or was there essentially no coverage of this before it hit? I mean, Katrina had a three-ring circus before it hit, and while this is nowhere near as strong or as catastrophic as Katrina was, it's - as they said - the strongest hurricane to hit us in decades!

[WeatherOp]

Is it just me, or was there essentially no coverage of this before it hit? I mean, Katrina had a three-ring circus before it hit, and while this is nowhere near as strong or as catastrophic as Katrina was, it's - as they said - the strongest hurricane to hit us in decades!

That is only half true, This was stronger then Kat, this had winds around 180mph at landfall, Kat's were only 130-135mph at landfall. But this was far smaller, so the surge was probley a good bit less.


But, enough nitpicking on wx facts. But, the sad truth is the fact that Kat hit NO, then it was intensified by all the political problems. Had it not hit NO, I think it would have faded away like Ivan or Charley with very little media coverage, even with all the damage it did to areas like Pass Christian and all the lives lost.

[Grug]

There was coverage in QLD. Maybe NSW's just doesn't care down there?

Over 1000 people were evacuated before hand and warnings etc given out to everyone up there. I was looking into it a bit more though because I have friends and relatives up there. (Hell, I used to live in Cairns and Townsville)

A much more potent cyclone certainly, winds up to 290kph, but no where near as devestating as Tracey because it passed over relatively quickly. Tracey slogged Darwin for 24hrs, flattening every house, and leaving no tree with any leaves remaining.

A lot of damage has been caused though, of homeless and unemployed people. The nation is going to feel it over the coming months. I'm half tempted to volunteer and make a run up there to lend a hand...
I still wonder what this other cyclone is going to do. At the moment its just sitting up there boiling up. Supposedly intensifying up to a cat 3 today.

[Mefustae]

Maybe NSW's just doesn't care down there?

F%#$, they're on to us!!

[Grug]

Maybe NSW's just doesn't care down there?

F%#$, they're on to us!!

Hehe, we just don't care that you don't care. Its a mutual agreement of not giving a ****. Kind of typical of Australian's really.

[WeatherOp]

Not looking good I'm afraid. This is the next storm.



Now by looking at it I can tell you a few things.

1. it's got a very small core, smaller then Larry, so from a certain view thats a good thing, but the bad side is that is being smaller it's gonna strengthen faster.

2. The storm is exremely healthy, showing off a very well defined CDO(central dense overcast), and outflow is perfect. When this thing shows off it's eye pretty soon, it's gonna explode in strength. Just by looking at the storm I can tell you it's about to rapidly strengthen.

I don't know how much Larry upwelled the water, and I don't know about sheer forecasts down there, but if Larry didn't cool the water or this goes farther south, and sheer stays the same, this could be a Cat.5 easily by afternoon tommorow.

Brace for hit #2 guys down under.

http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/sohemiloops/shirgmscol.html

This is a IR loop that is updated, if anyone else wants to watch it.

[Grug]

**** that's scary. Looks like it's heading straight for me!

I won't be staying in this house if it hits here, thats for sure. If it does, I'll be sure to get plenty of photos to upload though.

[WeatherOp]

I think I can give you some good news, instead of the very definded cyclone yesterday, sheer mlooks to have got it,,and has shreaded it down some what. It also it appears to be moving away, so that is very good news as well.

[Grug]

Yes I noticed that on the radar. Its starting to move east now.

[IceFire]

What is it with all the cat 5 hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons these past couple of years?

Get used to it....water is warmer thus bigger storms are brewing.  I wonder if they would consider adding another level of intensity if we start to see some truly incredible storms.  Last years hurricane season was off the charts for number of storms and the length of the season (one tropical storm formed almost 30 days after the season was over).  They are saying that this year is due to be just as bad...either in number of storms or in overal intensity (maybe less storms but more reaching a powerful status).

Regardless of the reason for climate change...it is changing.  Just look at the snowless winter in Southern Ontario.  This has never happened...ever.

[Flipside]

It's Sauron, he's come to claim back New Zealand!