Pollyana

http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/wrap_fwo.pl?IDQP0005.txt

Batten down the hatches in north Queensland..........worst one of the season so far, to the extent that the SES coordination centre staff in Brisbane are on alert

renth

That's right, it's a Category 5. If it hits a populated area it will cause serious devastation.

A fiend is supposed to be on a dive boat in the Coral Sea right now on a diving holiday. I suspect he is sitting in his hotel in Cairns looking at his travel insurance "small print"

steandleigh

Here in Cairns, we are on 'Cyclone Watch' at the moment, bit scary as it is Catagory 5, so have done all the sensible things -

Filled the car with fuel, bought a weeks worth of dried and tinned food, filled up the BBQ gas bottle, taped up the windows, bought several huge containers of water ( and will fill the bath etc up when the warning comes ), bought heaps of batteries for the radio and torch, candles etc Put emergency evacuation clothing etc in the back of the car.

listening to the radio constantly for updates.

Hmm....looks like it could be a bad one...trouble in paradise eh?

Simone

Wow! Hope it's not to bad if/when it hits guys!

I've only experienced something like this when I was 8 (northwest WA), and I can remember it was very exciting! Of course, I didn't have the worries the grown ups did!
We all got taken home from school in the school bus, and people said: if it all goes quiet, don't think that's it and go outside, because you could be in the eye of the storm!!

In the end, it didn't go directly over, but we still had heaps of rain (30 cm in backyard at least), trees ripped out etc!

mlbonner

True, though they reckon not as bad as Cyclone Tracey, as its moving a lot quicker currently. Fingers crossed.

MrsDagboy

Tracy was only a category 4 when it hit Darwin.

ABCDiamond

This is from todays paper:

Coast prepares for 'spooky' cyclone
08mar05

A CYCLONE as powerful as the storm that devastated Darwin 30 years ago was heading toward the Queensland coast today, with weather forecasters unable to accurately predict where it would strike.

Cyclone Ingrid is rated a powerful category five and has a compact centre with winds gusting up to 290km/h – drawing comparisons with Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974.

The Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Brisbane said today the cyclone was about 290km northeast of Cooktown and moving west at 8km/h.

Warning centre supervising meteorologist Phil Alford said the cyclone had a very destructive core.

"Where Tracy was a category four, this is a category five," he said.

"It is a deeper cyclone but with a very concentrated sort of vortex."

Warnings for the far north Queensland coast between Port Douglas and Cairns are being issued every three hours.

Mr Alford said computer models had been unable to accurately predict where the cyclone was likely to cross the coast.

"Because of that that we've got a fairly large warning zone from Lockhart River to Port Douglas," Mr Alford said.

"But one thing is for sure. All models say it's going to cross the coast – none of them are saying it's going to turn around and head off towards New Zealand or something."

Mr Alford said it was possible the cyclone could turn more westerly or even south-westerly and pick up speed by tomorrow, when an upper level trough that was impeding it moved away.

Terry Dukes, the reporting officer and weather observer at Cooktown Airport, said weather conditions today were fairly normal, but people were preparing for the worst.

"This one's a bit spooky," Mr Dukes said.

"The cloud hasn't moved for the last two or three hours as far as coming towards us so it tells me that whatever it's doing it's possibly going a little bit to the north-west.

"If it keeps going that way we are happy," Mr Dukes said.

Federal Liberal MP Warren Entsch, whose far north Queensland electorate of Leichhardt is in the path of the storm, has warned locals not to be complacent

http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.a...55E952,00.html

JayDeee

Bloody hell guys, weather like that is scary. I really really hope that is doesn't hit where any of you are and If It does I hope you are all OK.

Take care
Kala

ozzieeagle

Never experienced anything like you guys cop in the tropics, Hope all goes well. Do some people really have Cyclone parties ?

The Bloke

Not only do they happen in the tropics but they have been known in the past to come further down the coast of Qld nearly to Bundaberg. Can tell it wouldn't be a party to go to if you has a choice.

JayDeee

Sorry to sound dumb but what is the piont in filling the bath, obviously there is a reason but what is it. DO you get in it or something because it will weigh lots and is less likely to blow away???

Kala

Brissiegirl

I seem to remember a few years back (late 80's maybe?) that a rather weak end of a cyclone sort of wandered down the coast to North NSW.. sort of Bangalow/Byron Area... wrecking a bit of havoc..

The Bloke

Just advised that the reason for filling the bath with water is that if utilities, especially power is cutoff, water cannot be pumped from dams. Water then becomes very precious. This if your house survives the storm that is, but building codes now ensure most structures, especially after Tracey, can withstand most large windgusts.

The Bloke

Thought people down that way got wrecked anyhow, thanks to the wacky-weed.

Brissiegirl

I belive that's a popular pastime for certain bedraggled members of society from that area

I remember camping (in a tent I might add) at Broken Head (Just south of Byron Bay) and there had been a fair sized cyclone up North.. the seas were HUGE.. amazing storm surges, monster waves.. enormous tide... scary stuff.. and a few totally utterly mad sufers desperatley trying to catch waves that would kill... think this was late 80's/early 90's... memory is rubbish these days..