Cyclone Yasi Hits Australia: Too Late To Run
A HUGE storm is heading towards Queensland. The revolving tropical storm Yasi has now been upgraded to a Category 5 cyclone and is going to hit North Queensland somewhere south of Cairns in the next few hours. Evacuation centres in Cairns are full, writes AGW.
(Above phone: Brisbane Times)
The Queensland authorities already reeling, struggling with the chaos caused by the multi-billion A$ damage of the Christmas – New Year floods, had earlier only one piece of advice “Run Away“.
The cyclone is expected to cause a sea surge, a mini Tsunami of up to 12 metres, which could swamp much of the low lying areas of Northern Queensland. Buildings will be destroyed and there will be loss of life when the gusting to 300 kilometre gales hit.(That’s around 180 mph which is best described as seriously scary).
It will be the largest storm recorded as hitting Australia and will make landfall around midday GMT, February 2, 2011.
The latest chiller is the authorities have now said it is too late to run anywhere and the population should get its collective head down.
This is an area where there is a potentially large population of salt water crocodiles and the bush swarms with a variety of poisonous tropical snakes… which may be washed into conflict with those in the area dealing with the aftermath of the storms.
The majority of residents live close to the sea or in the coastal townships.
Already economists are predicting almost total destruction of the region’s sugar cane fields and the sugar mills could be destroyed.
Despite the tough Outback image Queensland is happy to promote as a knock-on from the Northern Territories, there are very few skilled Crocodile Dundee types about to step in with sod-you knives to save the day.
Many Cairns people have managed to reach higher ground. At one stage yesterday there were complaints about the excessive speeds of vehicles heading for the heights.
One collective worry for the rest of the world is this is an area which is teeming with that other Australian wildlife, backpackers and blue-rinse tourists.
Anxious times for many.
If you have relatives in the area you may want to know how things are being predicted, storm surge warning maps for North Queensland are here
Posted: 2nd, February 2011 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
