cyclone

[Alan Wheeler]

A major cyclone is bearing down on Oz this morning. It will make landfall between Cairns and Townsville. It is a cat 4, but one knt away from cat 5 and expected to gain strength considerably. It is expected it may rival Katrina.

[GordMay]

Good luck to all in the path of Cyclone "Larry".
Hope to hear good news from "TCP Bob" (Norson).

[Talbot]

It had better hurry cause it is almost the end of the season, and they are outlawed after that.

Good luck to all in that area (been there, loved it, hope to return)

[markpj23]

Prayers and best wishes to all in harm's way.. Larry looks like a big one...

[Alan Wheeler]

Well much of the damage has been done now. Larry moved onto land this morning. Winds reported at 290Km/hr. A lot of damage has been done. It is moving quite quickly and is now someway inland. It is slowly decreasing in strength as it moves over land.

However, another tropical low is heading toward the Ozy coastline. At present speed, it will make landfall in two days. It's path looks a little lower than Larry. At the mo, it is not to seriuose, but it now has two days of travel acroos the same warm water as Larry covered and may yet pick up strength again.

[CaptainK]

It's a shame what those hurricanes/typhoons can do to property and life?

I have been out at sea during 3 hurricanes (Bob, Hugo & Andrew). Two of them being catagory 5 hurricanes!! And it's so nasty with all the winds and rogue waves. It's no wonder why lots of smaller boats sank during these type of storms.

Luckly I was onboard an aircraft carrier. And even onboard that ship, it was rocking!! And they usually don't rock or roll much!!

greetings all and appreciate good wishes on behalf os sailors here... see my full report in "web site annoncements" wrong place to put it but oh well.... I have there the Australian cyclone threat map web site for the old one and the new one.

sure hope these things don't come in threes...

no loss of life... so far as we know. I'll be contacting every vessel I know for head count soon.

[CaptainK]

Well Bob you have my support.

You mentioned no loss of life. Hope it stays that way!!

It's a messy job, having to pick up dead bodies. I have a few people I know that it's a erie feeling dealing with dead bodies!!

The devastation part? Now there's going to be alot of busy construction work going on for years to come there? Plenty of work to be done I'm sure?

Hey Mudnut!!

Be glad that Titty City was spared?

[mudnut]

Wiped out Innisfall,only destruction,no death reported yet,early days,Whatti's on its way,no real bearing on if and where it will cross land.Bannana industry wiped out,sugar cane flattened all over the area,no power,looks like a small **** fight from the air but nowhere as bad as cyclone Tracey as far as we can tell right now.We all have friends up there and wait for news.The best thing was it moved over land very quickly which minimalized the ferocity of what could have been.Mudnut

[CaptainK]

Cyclone leaves hundreds homeless


Hundreds of residents in far north Queensland remain homeless and thousands are without power and water after Cyclone Larry devastated the region.

The cyclone has caused few injuries but more than half of the homes in Innisfail have been destroyed.

Cairns police Acting Inspector Mike Keating says it is a horrendous sight, with houses reduced to rubble.

He says residents on the Atherton Tablelands are also suffering.

"They are without power and that means they don't have water or sewage," he said.

Cyclone Larry, which crossed the coast as a category 5 cyclone yesterday morning, has been downgraded to category 1 and is moving inland.

A flood warning from Innisfail to Townsville remains in force.



Innisfail problems


The Counter Disaster and Rescue Service says emergency crews are still having problems getting access to the Innisfail region.

Emergency services personnel are currently travelling from Cairns and Townsville to help residents.

Spokesman Frank Pagano says the main road is blocked in both directions, but other options are being considered.

"Our aim is to check out and open the rail system as soon as possible, and the airport at Innisfail is open for emergency services workers," he said.

"We have been working with Defence in relation to aerial deployment and black hawks. Last report they were in Hughenden ready to be deployed."

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says authorities in Innisfail are trying to clear the local showground for a helicopter landing site.

Mr Beattie also says generators are being dispatched, along with 2,000 tarpaulins from Brisbane.

But Independent federal MP Bob Katter says more emergency help is needed, especially in Innisfail.

"We're into our 24th hour of this crisis and we have still only got a couple of tarpaulins here," he said.

"The people here have been working around the clock. Some have had no sleep in the 48 hours, so we need help and assistance to put those tarpaulins up."

Mr Beattie says help is on the way, but patience is needed.

"It's really bashed and belted, poor old Innisfail, so we need to get there to give them all the support we can," he said.

"But I just appeal to people to be patient, we will do everything we can to help them and we'll move as quickly as we can to help them, but we're going to have a number of very frustrating days for everybody."

Meanwhile, the mayor of the Herberton Shire, west of Cairns, is appealing for a generator for the local hospital.

It is currently running by candlelight.



Tourists evacuated


Many tourists were caught off guard by the cyclone.

At Tully, south of Cairns, Red Cross worker Noelene Byrne helped to evacuate dozens of young backpackers.

Many were staying at a local caravan park.

"They needed to be evacuated, so we ended up with about 70 young overseas tourists," she said.

"All of a sudden they find something like this happening, they were frightened."



Some schools to reopen


The cyclone forced the closure of 156 state schools on Monday.

The state's Education Minister, Rod Welford, says most will reopen today.

"Many students in the outlying areas will still have difficulty getting to school through road closures and other problems of access," he said.

"Schools in the Atherton, Cairns, Cardwell, Croydon, Eacham, Etheridge, Herberton, Johnstone, Mareeba and Yarrabah will still be closed."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/f...s/s1596408.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/f...s/s1596452.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...3/s1595757.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...3/s1596069.htm


http://www.abc.net.au/vod/news/

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

again as I just posted on the cyclone account thread on the 'web announcement' section, notable by it's absence in all maintstream media reports is the total lack of reporting on the marine angle. Innisfail is a port! Mourilyan Harbour is just a couple k's out of town and Cairns is a huge port with a large marina and usually hundreds of boats on pile berths or scattered at anchor in Trinity Inlet in town. A very large fleet all up and nothing for coverage.

[Alan Wheeler]

Bob, I saw a very quick glimpse on the news of many boats up on shore. Still, for the fury of that storm, and I am not belittling the damage, but I am also suprised as to how much survived. I wonder if it has anything to do with the building codes of NZ and Oz.

I just took a look at the latest satillite images. Cyclone Wati is now Cat 3. It is also swinging south towards slightly cooler water and predictions are that it may actually swing enough to move away from the land compleately. At this stage anyway. Another Cyclone is on the otherside of Oz at the mo, called Floyd. It also is moving away from land. It had been up in the Indonesia area.

[mudnut]

Hey Bob,when somthing like this happens the news is main/stream,lives are screwed up on many different angles,If ya gonna cry,dont cry for some ,cry for all.And when ya do ,dont pro/mo ya magazine.I supose its gonna be ya next big story,It's gonna take a lot more than words and tarps to get Inny back to shape.And If ya wondering what I'm doing about it all.Three families up there are close friends of mine,one family are on their way down to spend maybe a few mths at my place,they lost everything didnt even own a boat.Do I sound pissed off,well I guess I am,every time ya say somthing on this site it sounds like ya just promoting ya mag!By the way It's just fill of adds,so if ya think Larry is another angle for ya mag good luck to ya.Cry for all mate."I appologize to every person on this site for my rudeness towards Bob but this is my country,this is my state ,these are my close friends,Bob is obviously trying to make a dollar out of the sailing family in oz,and good luck to him,but don't do it out of tradgety."Mudnut

[Talbot]

Mudnut, I think you are overreacting to bobs last thread. If local media reporting is missing the plight of the local boatowners, then it is (as usual) poor reporting, and thus worthy of mention.

[mudnut]

You might be right Talbot,I do have my tantrums from time to time.It.s only just past the 24hr mark and what in hell do people expect,the place is prettywell cut of from all services and I think getting on a high horse over a particular section of the people and the fact that they havent been reported on and dissing the media so quikly isnt fair.Not everyone up there are yachties,in fact its a very small % of the comunity,and there is a bigger picture here.Sorry,sorry,sorry.Ill try to keep my tantrums in check!