Cyclone North Queensland

Looks like there is quite abit of damage in Far North Queensland from the Cat 5 Cyclone that just went through.

News

Peter M sent me an email to tell me he made it through okay in Cairns but he has a problem now to keep his beer cold as there is no power. He sends his regards to all here but says the place is a mess.

Innisfail is a disaster with about 50 % of the houses destroyed or severely damaged. The PM just flew in to do an inspection

Banana and Cane crops all destroyed and over 4000 people out of work now.

Check out the news.

Wags

Dang... good to hear Peter doin ok. I just heard from him myself...

Best to you and all those in the area

Seems like all continents are getting pounded by storms these days. The US has been having its fair share in recent times. Category 5 is absolutely huge. Returned a month ago from from Florida. They are still cleaning up 5 months later after a Cat 3 storm!

Any news on reef impact? The barrier reef is already under assault and I wonder if it can withstand even more abuse right now. Any updates on this?

I'm in Sydney right now and wanted to head up there for some diving... so much for that.

Go visit Wags in Ningaloo man!!!!!!

It looksl like Innisfail got really trashed. Cairns will be okay and the reef will be fine as well as the cyclone is not very wide and was traveling 25 km so it went over it very fast. The reef is 2500km long.

There is another cyclone one out there now as well.

Man I went out tonight thinking I would nail the Coral Spawn but it came a day early.....missed it..... O well try to get April's spawn now.

The real impact of the cyclone ( typhoon ) was felt in the smaller towns of Innisfail & Babinda. These towns are located 90 & 60 kilometeres south of Cairns and have been basically flattened by the Cyclone.

Will be down the farm tomorrow to check on the mess ( flattened all buildings and crops - no harvest = no new camera's ) , and will post some snaps for those interested.

The broader communities in this region will have the greatest economic impact given that all the crops have been destroyed and the next planting season will be at least 6-12 months away with the harvest ( payday ) a good time after that.

In terms of the reef - no evidence of any damage from the cyclone.

We had boats that visited a number of sites off from Cairns today & yesterday. Visibility had returned ( cloudy 15 meters ) and the ocean was relatively settled.

As Wags has rightly observed the real concern is for the new cyclone that is currently brewing and seemingly following a similar path to Larry.

How about Wags problem with the coral spawning early - I hope it's not contagious

Will be down the farm tomorrow to check on the mess ( flattened all buildings and crops - no harvest = no new camera's  ) ,  and will post some snaps for those interested.

Sorry to here about your buildings, crops etc

I would be interested in photos and info. We are on our way from Canada to Australia in a week and will be starting in the South (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne) then heading up North (Cairns, Port Douglas and Dunk Island).

Arg..... looks like Ningaloo might get wacked now by a Cat 4-5

Check the link

Cyclone

Poor Wags,

Remember all the important cyclone preparation rules.

1 - Fill the fridge with beer.

2 - Get generator / fuel / gas.

3 - Fill eskies with ice for extra beer.

3 - Connect generator to fridge.

4 - Make sure every one else has beer.

5 - Get extra gas for BBQ - you can't survive on just beer.

6 - Check beer is cold enough.

Enjoy your cyclone.

Why thank you Peter for your great advice and we will hopefully enjoy the cyclone as it tears everyting apart over here if it hits. I don't mind small ones but 5's are not very nice.

No bananas to blow over here, but there is a nice freshly part built Canal Marina that I'm sure would offer some great video footage as it gets washed away.

O well, have a couple film jobs down south to do.....see what happens. B)

Wags,

Just checked the latest. BOM say's it will probally be 5 by the time you wake up.

This should make a pretty good 5 mins for the ABC.

Beer , BBQ's , Beer.

P

Did I say remember to get spare beer ??

Peter.... keep up man!!! His ABC camera not working....

On a serious note...

Wags, hunker down, i truly hope it misses you guys.. stay safe!!!

I'm sure they will be glad to accept the footage from the FX1.

Like Mike said ,,, Head down.

It's hugging the coast all right.

Does not look good.

Might take the Phenom down to the Marina and bolt it to the concrete and turn it on and see what I get. Now were is my long play tape.

This is what happen last time.

Thats my 4x4 in that shed??

And this is a 6 ton boat that was on a big trailer and it was blown over 4 KM away...across LAND......

And check this out.

It was my friends house

Yowza!!!

Beer and sandbags Wags!

Not sure we need to get TOO excited about this one quite yet...

http://www.npmoc.navy.mil/jtwc/warnings/sh2006.gif

She'll likely make a mess but hopefully won't pull a Vance on us