Cyclone Yasi
Feb. 2nd, 2011 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crazyjaneMy brother Scott and most of his family live in Townsville. Right now, they're bunkered down waiting for Cyclone Yasi, a Category 5 storm, to cross the coast. Although currently aimed about 100km north of them, the storm has been moving steadily south and may still hit them head on. Even if it stays on its current course, the system is so big (500 km across) that Townsville will experience the equivalent of a Category 3 cyclone.
Where it will hit is anybody's guess, really. We just know that it will, around 10pm tonight.
Part of the uncertainty is that we don't have much in the way of accurate observations. When the storm hit Willis Island earlier today, it knocked out the weather station.
The media, of course, has gone into nonstop coverage, much as they did in the recent Queensland floods. Headlines scream, 'MONSTER!' That's pretty much par for the course. What's a lot scarier is the warning from the Bureau of Meteorology:
SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE YASI IS A LARGE AND VERY POWERFUL TROPICAL CYCLONE AND
POSES AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA,
ESPECIALLY BETWEEN CAIRNS AND TOWNSVILLE.
Now the Bureau isn't exactly your typical tabloid mag. For it to use this kind of language, things must be bad.
Scott and his family aren't far from the Ross River, but weren't considered in the storm surge zone because their home is reasonably high up. It would take a storm surge of 7m to inundate them - so they made the choice not to evacuate.
Scott's done all the right things - moved their belongings upstairs, prepared a safe room in the laundry, got bottled water and gas, tinned food, batteries, a radio, etc. The windows are taped and everything in the backyard secured or packed away. In short, they've done all they can. Now it's a waiting game.
But the cyclone keeps intensifying, and keeps swinging further south. It's going to hit around high tide tonight - and that could push the storm surge even higher.
I've been in touch with Scott on and off during the day. His last SMS said, 'It's getting almost biblical out there. We're in for a wild n woolly night'. I know he's doing his best to keep everyone calm, especially his youngest, but he's getting worried.
I didn't sleep much last night - too worried. Mind you, that's nothing to how they would have felt.
There's a lot of talk about how ridiculously unfair this is - first the floods, now the biggest and most intense cyclone in Australian history. I understand that feeling - but part of me is just thinking, hey, I just got my brother back after all those years, we're really building a good relationship here, don't you dare take him away from me now.
Where it will hit is anybody's guess, really. We just know that it will, around 10pm tonight.
Part of the uncertainty is that we don't have much in the way of accurate observations. When the storm hit Willis Island earlier today, it knocked out the weather station.
The media, of course, has gone into nonstop coverage, much as they did in the recent Queensland floods. Headlines scream, 'MONSTER!' That's pretty much par for the course. What's a lot scarier is the warning from the Bureau of Meteorology:
SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE YASI IS A LARGE AND VERY POWERFUL TROPICAL CYCLONE AND
POSES AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA,
ESPECIALLY BETWEEN CAIRNS AND TOWNSVILLE.
Now the Bureau isn't exactly your typical tabloid mag. For it to use this kind of language, things must be bad.
Scott and his family aren't far from the Ross River, but weren't considered in the storm surge zone because their home is reasonably high up. It would take a storm surge of 7m to inundate them - so they made the choice not to evacuate.
Scott's done all the right things - moved their belongings upstairs, prepared a safe room in the laundry, got bottled water and gas, tinned food, batteries, a radio, etc. The windows are taped and everything in the backyard secured or packed away. In short, they've done all they can. Now it's a waiting game.
But the cyclone keeps intensifying, and keeps swinging further south. It's going to hit around high tide tonight - and that could push the storm surge even higher.
I've been in touch with Scott on and off during the day. His last SMS said, 'It's getting almost biblical out there. We're in for a wild n woolly night'. I know he's doing his best to keep everyone calm, especially his youngest, but he's getting worried.
I didn't sleep much last night - too worried. Mind you, that's nothing to how they would have felt.
There's a lot of talk about how ridiculously unfair this is - first the floods, now the biggest and most intense cyclone in Australian history. I understand that feeling - but part of me is just thinking, hey, I just got my brother back after all those years, we're really building a good relationship here, don't you dare take him away from me now.
