Batten down the hatches!

[Bluenose]

After twelve years of drought, the Black Saturday bushfires, locust plagues, two rounds of flooding - first in Queensland, then again in Queensland, New South Wales and into Victoria (my home state), now north Queensland looks like it is about to be plastered by severe tropical cyclone Yasi which is a category 5 cyclone with wind speeds up to 300 km/h and is due to arrive over the coast on a 500 km front in the next few hours.  The weather bureau  is forcasting up to a metre of rain or even more in effected areas.  There is predicted to be a storm surge of about 2.7 m at Cairns which is likely to inundate the CBD there.  As I type this I am listening to an emergency warning that is being broadcast to advise people in the effected area to secure themselves now and that there is now only about 3 hours left to evacuate before it becomes too dangerous.  Landfall is expected about 9 or 10 pm.  The advice is that at current rate of progress, the eye of the cyclone will take about an hour to pass overhead and the government is warning not to be lulled into a false sense of security when the eye is overhead.  This is going to be a wild ride indeed for my countymen in North Queensland.

For interest, here is the latest visible satellite photo clearly showing the cyclone out in the Coral Sea.

[ivor]

Beat feet Blue!  Category 5 is a killer!

[Bluenose]

Yeah.  Cyclone Tracey that wiped out Darwin in 1974 was only category 4.  I'm only glad that I am at the other end of the continent.  That's little comfort for those in the path of this mighty storm, of course.  Basically we're all holding our breath for the next 24 hours to see what happens.  It is expected that the cyclone will track inland perhaps to as far as Mount Isa before breaking down into a tropical depression.  In the next couple of weeks or so, Victoria (my home state) can probably expect more tropical style rain.  Just what we need in the flooded areas.  The water has been taking a long time to clear, in fact some towns are only now receiving their peak water, and the last thing we need is a top up.  Mind you, lest anyone think this directly affects Casa del Blue - it doesn't.  The flooding is the other side of the Great Dividing Range to my place, in the vast flood plain that is the Murray-Darling basin.  The flatness is the reason it is taking so long for the flood water to dissipate.  Unlike the recent Queensland floods which came on with frightening rapidity - I'm sure many siblings will have seen video of cars being tossed around like so many corks in the torrent - down here the floods came on much more slowly and gave people time to prepare.  One town (Warracknabeal) was saved by a local earth moving contractor who off his own initiative built 6 kilometres of levy bank around the town.  Anyway, as a result it is taking a long time for the floods to drain away.  Hopefully the washout from the cyclone will not dump too much more onto the flood areas.  Still, that's all in the possible future, the immediate concern is for those in the path of the cyclone.  I'll keep you posted.

[Aggie]

Here's hoping for the best outcome in a bad scenario.

[Swatopluk]

If this was the US there would be another cyclone, one of televangelists trying to link the series of natural disasters to the sinful behaviour of the people in the region.

[Sibling DavidH]

Good luck to all of you, Bluenose.  Australia's woes this year make our little bit of snow seem rather trivial.

[Swatopluk]

According to the news on radio the US is currently hit by an extremly heavy snowstorm (currently approaching Chicago).

[Bluenose]

The eye of the cyclone is stil labout 100 km off shore but closing in fast, the area marked "very destructive winds" on the weather bureau's tracking map taken about 20 minutes ago is shown just brushing the coastline.  The blog on the ABC web site has report from people saying that trees are down, buildings are already being damaged.  It looks like the nasty stuff is just beginning.  The next 4-6 hours will be the most telling.

By way of comparision, Yasi is about the same size as Katrina was, but the wind speeds already recorded have exceeded the maximum for Katrina by about 40-50 knots.  This is no picnic.

[ivor]

That cat 4 storm that hit 80 miles south of me a few years back bent steel light post like they were soda straws...

[Bluenose]

Hi guys,  just woken up.  The reports are coming in about total devastation from the path of the cyclone.  The cyclone itself is, according to the radio, about 130 km inland now and is currently down to a category 3 cyclone but wind speeds of about 200 km/h are still being recorded near the core.  No reports so far of casualties, but then it might well be a little while before that sort of information can be gathered.  Based on what I heard from people who were under the direct path if no one has been killed it will be some kind of miricle.  Here's hoping...

Edit
Damn.  Just heard that one person has already been reported killed.  How do you respond to something like that? It makes me very sad.

Edit must have been a false report.

[Aggie]

 

I'll light some candles of hope here where they won't blow out.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

[Bluenose]

Sorry guys, been at work.  The earlier report I heard this morning must have been incorrect.  The current situation is that so far there have been NO reported fatalities or even serious injuries as a result of the cyclone.  Plenty of destruction, to be sure and there will be heart ache enough on that front, but miraculously it seems like we may have escaped without anyone having to pay the ultimate price.  A cause for celebration indeed if it proves to be true!  So we need all the siblings to keep their fingers crossed - and arms and legs and eyes and whatever.   Oh, and three babies were born during the tempest.  Apparently many buildings had been extensively re-built after Cyclone Larry 5 years ago and so even though Yasi was much stronger many structures have survived remarkably well. Overall, the feeling I get from the effected area is very upbeat.

[ivor]

That's great to hear Blue!  Sounds like people listen to evacuation orders down there!

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Apparently many buildings had been extensively re-built after Cyclone Larry 5 years ago and so even though Yasi was much stronger many structures have survived remarkably well.

So you guys implemented the lessons learned? That is impressive and wonderful.

I wish I could say the same around here. 

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

That's good news, Blue. 

[Bluenose]

Latest update: one person is confirmed dead, a 23 y.o. man was found asphyxiated in a small closed room where he had been overcome by the fumes from a generator.  Not sure I can in all conscience blame the cyclone for that, but it is sad nevertheless and I guess had there been no cyclone and the power had consequently gone out, he might well not have died.  Various reports say either one or two people are missing.  One was apparently on a boat and grave fears are held for him, the other apparently is possibly alive and well and does not know people are looking for him.   Time will tell.

As for the reconstruction after cyclone Larry, I guess although people do from time to time grumble about new rules when they are introduced, generally speaking people over here recognise that the authorities do have the right to make them, especially to incorporate lessons learnt after natural disasters.  No doubt lessons learnt from the current rash of floods and of course the cyclone will result in still more changes.  Probably one of the biggest changes will be a requirement for towns further inland to be constructed to withstand cyclones.  Yasi was almost over to the Northern Territory border before it was finally downgraded to a tropical depression and even then they were still issuing gale force wind warnings.  At the moment the weather gurus are suggesting that ex-tropical cyclone Yasi looks likely to link up with an existing cold front across the centre of the continent and consequently there is likely to be torrential rain in much of my home state including the flood affected areas, this weekend.  Just what we don't need.  I cannot    believe I am complaining about impending rain.  After such a long drought it seems like sacrilege somehow.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Spoke too soon, then.   Pity about the dude with the CO poisoning; you'd think people would learn this one, it's so common to read about.

I'm always amazed at what people resist:  "you want me to build my house earthquake proof?  Just because I live on a fault line?  No way!"

Well, keep your flotation devices close to hand, Blue and try not to wash away.

[Swatopluk]

In large parts of the US the idea of insulating one's house against the cold seems also to be lost to the distant past (before cheap oil became the one thing that the US would be willing to commit any imaginable atrocity to get its hands on constantly).
Is there any legal requirement that US houses have to be built so light that a truck can carry them away?

[ivor]

They aren't that light.  Especially here in my neighborhood.  If they were, these dumb Okie's would be stealing them. 

[Swatopluk]

There was a curious law case in the UK. An elderly couple parked their car in what they thought was a car park (house not lot). When they returned from shopping the 'car park' was not there anymore because it was actually a car ferry that had left by then. The couple went to the police and reported that the car park had been stolen.

[Bluenose]

Time for a laugh.  I really, really hope this is a photoshop job.

[Swatopluk]

Were any tigers hurt in the shift?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Time for a laugh.  I really, really hope this is a photoshop job.

I must be dimwitted or slow...

... all I see is a map of Australia...

[Swatopluk]

Took me some time too.
Queensland is a state (is that the right term?) in North-East Australia.
The map shifts it to Tasmania, where there is a city by the name of Queenstown (at about the location the map points to).
The joke is that the storm was strong enough to blow the one to the other.
My remark about tigers refers to the (possibly related) species of the Queensland and the Tasmanian Tiger (the former may not exist, the latter is likely extinct).

---

Oops - hit "Modify" instead of "quote" - Bluenose

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Aaah.  Thanks!

[Bluenose]

Took me some time too.
Queensland is a state (is that the right term?) in North-East Australia.
The map shifts it to Tasmania, where there is a city by the name of Queenstown (at about the location the map points to).
The joke is that the storm was strong enough to blow the one to the other.
My remark about tigers refers to the (possibly related) species of the Queensland and the Tasmanian Tiger (the former may not exist, the latter is likely extinct).

Right on all counts.  Queensland tiger is almost certainly a myth.

[Swatopluk]

While the East drowns, the West is on fire, if I got the news correctly this morning.
Maybe the Lord wanted to punish Austria at last and got the spelling wrong.