Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi

[gottolovethisweather]

they were told to leave well in advance of the storm hitting.they refused and sat it out,bigger fools them.

to then ring the emergency services asking for rescue is obscene.we all have choices in life to make.seems they made a bad call this time.

Yes tis true. However, so easy for us though to say precisely what you say but home and property sometimes crazily comes first! A tough choice to make for sure.

Some towns have reportedly been really badly hit but the truth will soon be out there and over the next few hours and days.

The coverage is very good on the ABC link but I must say, even as a bloke, the male presenter is a bit creepy and don't they sit close together too.

Keep the info coming guys n gals.

Cheers

gottolovethisweather

Edited February 2, 2011 by gottolovethisweather

[Polar Bear]

I like ABC news site.....this is interesting..at a glance.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/infographics/cyclone-season-2010-2011/comparison.htm

Yes tis true. However, so easy for us though to say precisely what you say but home and property sometimes crazily comes first! A tough choice to make for sure.

Some towns have reportedly been really badly hit but the truth will soon be out there and over the next few hours and days.

The coverage is very good on the ABC link but I must say, even as a bloke, the male presenter is a bit creepy and don't they sit close together too.

Keep the info coming guys n gals.

Cheers

gottolovethisweather

Evening Sir..have your drink in hand yet?

Absolultey agree very easy for us to make comment but really dont know the circumstances, and how it gets reported. I wonder for some whether they had no other alternatives, i.e. illnesses, mobility help, transport the lot as well we just dont really know.

Yes love the ABC site, havent see the male presenter yet but will have a look now. .....cant wait.

It seems to be downgrading itself now fairly quickly so there is some respite for some to come now........I wonder if we have any aussie n-w members....

PB

[gottolovethisweather]

I like ABC news site.....this is interesting..at a glance.

http://www.abc.net.a.../comparison.htm

Evening Sir..have your drink in hand yet?

PB

Oh yes. Magners time. Weird, there's a 5000€ gagner advert(!) above this post. Perhaps if I drink too much tonight perhaps I'll be a gagnering, wtf is that about!

I'm actually looking forward to a windy ole weekend in our neck of the woods but hopefully no devastation. Have you checked my forecast on the CSE thread yet PB? Being as you are the only follower of that forecast I hoped you would be able to pass a comment on it at some point in time.

Sorry, I've no more to add to this thread for now, I'll let someone else have a word. As the polar one said, any Aussie's in here?

Cheers

gottolovethisweather

Edited February 2, 2011 by gottolovethisweather

[Upgrade]

it will be interesting how far inland this gets. or whether it will cross into the gulf of carpentaria and strengthen, along to darwin?

looking at the satellite pics, it appears there may be another storm brewing in the western pacific.

i love australia, have been a few times, have relatives in adelaide but havent been to queensland yet. maybe i will go in the next dry season!

Edited February 2, 2011 by Upgrade

[Polar Bear]

Seems that some areas still are getting a battering ..well I suppose it is a cat 3 so I would expect that...

Just heard the man with the chooks and the goats which he brought inside..him and his wife also brought the horse inside aswell. Bales of straw surrounded it and inside they came. It was interesting to learn that since Cyclone Larry, that infrastructure and substructures have been redesigned, so most homes made stronger....

Is there no aussie's on n-w today? do we have any would be so good to have your views...

EDIT : Now a CAT 2

Edited February 2, 2011 by Polar Bear

[gottolovethisweather]

Another good link showing the latest.

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/-/watch/23310266/

Regards

gottolovethisweather

[Mesoscale]

there hotter then that abc lot haha!

[Somerset Squall]

Looks like Yasi will move pretty far inland as a tropical cyclone, still maintaining impressive structure at the moment, and still unleashing some very heavy rain and damaging winds (though not as strong as earlier).

[butler_son]

Mission Beach is looking a little ragged: http://www.yfrog.com...=CastawayResort

[gottolovethisweather]

there hotter then that abc lot haha!

Hmmmm. I hope I posted the correct link.

Let's hope 0 casualties remains the case BUT.... I say it's unlikely to be so.

Regards

gottolovethisweather

Mission Beach is looking a little ragged: http://www.yfrog.com...=CastawayResort

Blimey these images and reports are coming at a rate of knots now pardon the pun, but it is amazing, it's only been daylight over there for a couple of hours or so.

Brilliant to see the story unfold on the internet.

Cheers

gottolovethisweather

EDIT: nice reporting there right now!

Edited February 2, 2011 by gottolovethisweather

[AderynCoch]

Not much news seems to be coming out the hardest-hit areas yet (power outages, daylight only just arriving, etc.), but the town of Tully (halfway between Innisfail and Cardwell) has apparently had 90% of its buildings "extensively damaged":

http://www.abc.net.a.../03/3128533.htm

Edited February 2, 2011 by AderynCoch

[snow raven]

Not much news seems to be coming out the hardest-hit areas yet (power outages, daylight only just arriving, etc.), but the town of Tully (halfway between Innisfail and Cardwell) has apparently had 90% of its buildings "extensively damaged":

http://www.abc.net.a.../03/3128533.htm

I thought the 10pm news was pretty dire with any updates - am guessing the storm wasn't as bad as predicted?

[Crepuscular Ray]

I thought the 10pm news was pretty dire with any updates - am guessing the storm wasn't as bad as predicted?

Not necessarily. Just lack of communications. It's far more likely that the nearest BBC correspondent is in Sydney and it's difficult to get anyone from the affected area to talk - the Australian services tend to cut off power, phone lines, etc., in advance on the grounds that it means that they'll be easier to get up and running quickly and won't interfere with emergency services in the meantime.

Uploading images to the interweb isn't easy if there's no phone line... Doubtless more pictures will emerge.

Edited February 2, 2011 by crepuscular ray

[Iceni]

Not necessarily. Just lack of communications. It's far more likely that the nearest BBC correspondent is in Sydney and it's difficult to get anyone from the affected area to talk - the Australian services tend to cut off power, phone lines, etc., in advance on the grounds that it means that they'll be easier to get up and running quickly and won't interfere with emergency services in the meantime.

Uploading images to the interweb isn't easy if there's no phone line... Doubtless more pictures will emerge.

Heard a heartbreaking phone conversation on the phone-in with a farmer who grew tropical fruit who said his trees were only just getting back into production after Cyclone Larry in 2006 — now they're all smashed to bits again.

Edited February 3, 2011 by Iceni

[Crepuscular Ray]

One of the Brizzy newspapers is beginning to upload some images from readers:

http://www.couriermail.com.au

So far, there are no reports of deaths. Sadly, I can't imagine that that will last.

[knocker]

I could be wrong but having kept a little bit of a beady eye on some station rainfall figures ( last night, haven't seen this mornings) and the radars it appears to me that although in some places there was extensive rainfall it doesn't appear to be approaching some of the predictions that were made 24-36 hours ago. I hope this is the case given recent events in Queensland and states further south who suffer the knock on effect. The radars at 0630z this morning.

[Beverley Lass]

30 photos

Here are some early pics from the online Telegraph.

Devastated homes, crops and just look at that pile of yachts !

Amazing if no-one died, here's hoping.

BL

[Polar Bear]

30 photos

Here are some early pics from the online Telegraph.

Devastated homes, crops and just look at that pile of yachts !

Amazing if no-one died, here's hoping.

BL

Yes fair bit of devastation for some but it is nice to see that it is not as bad as they thought and what I cant get over is how some houses so close to the see see all ok.

On that yachts photos - there is one which is in the middle tied still to the pontoon and away from the others...someone tied up there boat well that night!

No reports of anyone seriously or fatally hurt......yet and I hope it stays that way....

right onto seeing what is in store for us now in the UK! .....

[Coast]

Residents of northern Queensland, Australia, woke on Thursday morning to destruction wrought by Cyclone Yasi, the biggest storm to ever hit the region.

"It was absolutely terrifying," said Frank Russo, a journalist for the Innisfail Advocate who was in the town of Garradunga, a suburb of Innisfail, around 24 miles (40 kilometers) north of the eye of the storm. With winds gusting up to 186 miles per hour (300 kilometers per hour), Russo was with his parents in their two-story "Queenslander"-style house when the category 5 storm hit. "The winds here didn't really pick up until midnight; that's when they were at their worst. "You'd have things crashing into your roof. We heard a clicking that sounded like iron flying in the air, and we thought it was our roof; we thought it had gone. To be honest, I didn't have much hope for this place. "But we were very lucky. We woke up this morning - I only had around half an hour's sleep - and had a look around and our roof actually stayed on." After driving into Innisfail on Thursday morning, Russo reported that only one roof had been torn off, and damage was surprisingly light in the town. The area's banana and sugar cane crops however are thought to be completely destroyed.

The previous category 5 cyclone to hit the region was Cyclone Larry in 2006. Compared to that storm, Innisfail had come through the storm relatively unscathed, said Russo. Townsville resident Caillin Peacock said that he thought around 80% of trees had gone from the streets there and that there was some superficial damage to buildings. Only 10% of the city has power, he said.

There are currently no reports of any serious injuries or deaths from the cyclone. "Everybody is so relieved about that," said Russo, who has been able to use the internet and has been checking in with friends and family through email and social networking websites. Mobile networks are functioning, but coverage is poor, he said. The storm's center passed through the region of Mission Beach and the town of Tully 40 miles (65 kilometers) south of Innisfail where the damage is reported to be much greater. Residents hundreds of kilometers away from the Queensland coast had also prepared for the worst as the 250 mile-diameter (400 kilometer-diameter) cyclone swept inland.

"From 10.30 p.m. (local time) it started to pick up and the winds started to get really strong. There was a lot of stuff going across our roof. It was pretty scary," she said. Electricity to the house and phone lines were lost at around 11 p.m. "It was hard to get any rest. We tried to sleep, but would wake up from the strong winds howling and the windows rattling. "I've never been through anything this extreme; the buildup was so big - the satellite images of it all and the media hype," she said. Winds were still gusting on Thursday morning when Wallace left the house to assess the damage to her house and yard. "We feared for the worst, but it turned out to be okay, and we're very lucky. Tings aren't as bad as they are around Innisfail and Tully," she said. "Everyone's trying to see if petrol stations are open so they can run generators. We went looking for ice, but we found there wasn't anything like that open. It's pretty much deserted." Driving to the nearby town of Atherton, Wallace did find the local grocery store open with few provisions and two pubs serving. "If the pubs are open, that's a good thing for the country," she joked.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/02/03/cyclone.yasi.reaction/

[johnholmes]

It could have been so very much worse

no loss of life as far as the reports suggest

[knocker]

It could have been so very much worse

no loss of life as far as the reports suggest

Very true John. When you consider when cyclone Tracy wiped out Darwin in 1974 the gale force winds only extended 48km from the centre and was one of the most compact systems ever. Tracy killed 71 people, caused $837 million in damage and destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, including 80 percent of the houses

[Coast]

[Snowangel-MK]

Yasi downgraded to tropical low as massive recovery awaits

Just under 24 hours after Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi residents in towns like Mission Beach, Tully and Cardwell have a massive recovery ahead of them after Yasi damaged hundreds of buildings and smashed infrastructure and farms.

Emergency crews are yet to access some areas but so far there have been no reports of any deaths or serious injuries.

The Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts says it's an amazing outcome that can be partly attributed to good planning.

"People cooperating with authorities and the right decisions being made to get people out of harm's way," he said.

But the danger isn't over yet. The tropical low is expected to bring strong winds and rain to Mt Isa all night, and localised flash flooding is possible.

[Snowangel-MK]

Looking at the pictures it seems amazing that there were no fatalities - sadly here in the UK A motorist has been killed on a rural road as his car was struck by a tree uprooted by high winds last night.

[Somerset Squall]

Looking at the pictures it seems amazing that there were no fatalities - sadly here in the UK A motorist has been killed on a rural road as his car was struck by a tree uprooted by high winds last night.

I'm amazed too. Queensland has handed Yasi very well. I guess most just got the hell out of there!