Cyclone Yasi

[BennyB]

Special shout out to those in Far North Queensland and in particular Cairns as Cyclone Yasi moves across land in the next few hours. For those that don't know, this cyclone is a Category 5 and is roughly the same size as Hurricane Katrina - they are expecting tidal surges of 7m and winds up to 320km/hr. It will cause massive damage to much of Queensland, on top of the devastating floods we've already had. Unbelieveable.

I've heard from Bjorn (DivingDane) and he is bunkered up at home with plenty of food and beer, they expect the power and phones to go out shortly. Watts is up there too - take care guys!

Cheers,
Ben

 

[watts]

Rains coming now. I went to the beach earlier and the storm surge had already pushed the last tide up onto the road. Weve got everything inside and now just sitting waiting which is a weird feeling. Hope the house is strong enough.

 

[nostres]

Rains coming now. I went to the beach earlier and the storm surge had already pushed the last tide up onto the road. Weve got everything inside and now just sitting waiting which is a weird feeling. Hope the house is strong enough.

Hold on tight, wish You best

 

[Don Paul]

All the best to you guys, hold tight, prayers sent for minimum loss.


Cheers, Don Paul

 

[watts]

512 km composite Cairns Radar Loop

 

[jks]

good luck.

 

[devondave]

512 km composite Cairns Radar Loop

That's a monster.
Best of luck to all our Aussie cousins.

 

[Tunny]

Best of luck to you all and my poor Nan (Queenstown, Cairns) who is positively bricking it :head bless her.... X x

 

[podge]

Good luck with it chaps, keep yer heads down and try to stay safe.

 

[watts]

Getting windy now. Powers gome out.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[Adrian]

Good luck too - wishing you guys all the best!

 

[devondave]

Good luck guys . . .

 

[BennyB]

Cairns, Townsville and Innisfail are getting absolutely hammered at the moment. The cyclone has crossed to land about 25min ago at Mission Beach. There are stories on twitter of an evac centre with 500 people having it's roof ripped off, amd winds expect to hit 290km/hr If you use twitter search on #TCYasi, there's a guy on twitter called cycloneupdate who is in cairns doing live tweets from his bunker by candlelight.

There's a reporter on now who has ventured out a little and one second it will be still, then the next second an absolute gale will start. It's just staggering to watch...
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[fcallagy]

Hope all turns out OK I have a few friends in Sydney one who just left ireland last week to see his brother for a few days and then head off surfing up the coast. He may have to wait a while longer.

 

[Jonny250]

wow, looks horrendous. prayers sent...
stay safe.

 

[jay cluskey]

shit guys !
i hope you are all safe !

 

[BennyB]

Just a quick update - the media here is reporting no deaths or injuries so far, which is quite staggering given the intensity. There are many areas that have been significantly damaged but all things considered, it would appear that we have got off a lot better than could have been the case. Much of this is to do with the way the locals prepared in the leadup - evacuating early, securing all outside items that could turn into missiles and staying indoors when the cyclone hit. That said, there looks to be a huge amount of property damage and our banana and sugar industries have been all but wiped out.

But... so far no deaths! In fact the opposite, 3 babies were born overnight, one in a Cairns evacuation centre. Simply staggering, fingers crossed none are reported.

I've heard from Bjorn (Diving Dane), he and his partner and dog are all fine, Watts and family are ok too. Still waiting to hear from Rahel Zemoi in Townsville, they were hit very hard and a lot of communications are out and will be for a while yet.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[karenR]

Cyclone Yasi gets near the coast of Queensland in Australia

The northeast coastline of Australia is getting ready for the landfall of Cyclone Yasi. I read this here: Queensland coast of Australia braces for Cyclone Yasi.The most detrimental flooding in over a century has already been recorded in Queensland over the past month, as the monsoon season brought unusually heavy rains, and now a Category Four storm is because of make landfall. Hurricane Katrina, which wreaked havoc within the United States in 2005, was about the very same size as the storm that will lash Australia.

 

[watts]

All good still alive tidied up yard and back to diving tomorrow.:friday

 

[devondave]

Phew!
A better outcome than expected, glad you're OK.

Karen, welcome to db, could you tell us a bit about yourself?