Monster Storm Bears Down On Australia

reply to post by Faruk


HAARPs way to silence julian assange, what god forsaken planet are you on? think about what you're saying and how pathetically stupid it is.

Can moderators please do something about off topic discussion, conspiratorial thinking (which does not belong in here), and general crap?

Here are some morning updates.

- Premier Anna Bligh says thousands will be homeless after Yasi made landfall at about midnight local time (1am AEDT) at Mission Beach, but was felt from Cairns to Townsville.

- The storm was downgraded from a category five to a category four as it crossed land but was still the strongest tropical storm to ever hit Australia. The storm has weakened as it travels over land, the last update at around 6am local time downgrading Yasi to a category two cyclone.

- The communities of Mission Beach, Tully and Innisfail, 50km north of ground zero, are the worst hit, with residents reporting areas of trees are "shredded". Queensland Police have received widespread reports of widespread damage and destruction but no reported injuries or deaths so far.

- Electricity is out in many communities, with power lines brought down by winds. It will stay off at least until the storm has passed and it is safe for workers to go out and inspect the damage.

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10.40am Emergency crews had to cut their way into Cardwell. Initial reports say the town is devastated. Premier Bligh said Palm Island, "despite being out there in the middle of it all, has come through reasonably well," with no significant damage.

10.37am Ms Bligh reports that one in three houses in Tully have had their roofs ripped or have been completely destroyed.

10.33am Premier Anna Bligh described the situation as "still very dangerous" in a press conference.
There was no structural damage to any of the evacuation centres where over 10,000 people spent a stressful night.

A second storm surge with the current high tide is creating significant water rises and flooding in areas. She said evacuation centres will remain in lockdown until the tide recedes.

10.28am Queensland Police have warned people to stay away from the coast, particularly the Esplanade area of Cairns, as the second storm surge creates significant flooding.

No official reports of death or injury so far.

Originally posted by wickedqueenamanda
Edit: a few minutes after I shared this link, it went offline :

"Everybody ok this morning. Still have no power. We'll put the webcam back up when we do. updated 2 hours ago "

reply to post by Shirak


On commercial radar feed it appears to have dissipated quickly and veered at a 45 degree angle left of the mostly perpendicular coastal track that was predicted.

I have never seen such a thing. I don't know if I've been ignorant. But my prayers are with you all.

My thoughts and prayers are with you. I really wish there was more I could say. I just don't have the words. This is a terrible act of nature and I hope the loss of life and property is small. You guys have been through enough with the floods already.

1.42pm Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has called on Australians to dig deep again for the Disaster Relief Fund, which is now extended to Cyclone Yasi victims.

The fund stood at $192,470,566 today.

1.33pm Cardwell looks like it's been hit by a tsunami, the Courier-Mail reports. The coastal community about 50km south of Tully is completely devastated and looks more like a junkyard.

The marina is destroyed, million-dollar boats have been ripped apart, homes have had roofs torn off, buildings are just shells, power lines are down everywhere and the town is barely recognisable.

1.08pm Here come the price rises. Remember when Cyclone Larry wiped out 90 per cent of our banana supply? The same applies to Yasi, with early estimates of $13 a kilo predicted right through 2011.

"It did then, and I can't see any reason why it wouldn't now," National Farmers Federation president Jock Laurie said referring to the 2006 disaster.

Reports from the ABC back then suggested prices would "skyrocket" to $6 a kilo. Australia doesn't import bananas, due to their pest-free status at home, so there's no avoiding it.

12:55pm Wild footage from Cairns overnight courtesy of Channel Ten with Cairns Post editor Andrew Holman saying Yasi hit with the same impact as a road crash at 285km/h.

[redacted] Older one

I am pleased to be able to read tonight that there have been no reports of loss of an lives due to this storm.
Lots of destruction, yes, which sucks, and I feel sorry for and empathize with those who have lost their homes, but they can be rebuilt. Im sure the people of Australia will pull together and come through this with their heads held high just as they/you have in the past.

It is very nice to not be reading about lives lost over this though. Australia seems to have done a very good job with preparation and evacuation.

Man that was a big sucka!
Blessings to all in Oz!

[quote]Another heap of exaggeration and nonsense in your story needs to be corrected.

The highest gust experienced in Cairns was 93kmh at 00:43 this morning.

Where do you get off with all this 300kmh wind "smashing" Cairns.

from Mackay Harbour, Queensland


Where did you get this 100kmh windspeed nonsense from? The highest gust recorded in Mackay was 61kmh at just past 11:00pm last night.

Check this out www.bom.gov.au...

You people seem to make a habit out of exaggerating to sensationalise very ordinary events

www.dailymercury.com.au...


The above are a sampling of comments written to their daily media by those who lived through the supposed 'killer cyclone'

Despite the allged terrifying situation, they still found time, despite power blackouts in some places, to comment in their local news about the ridiculous exaggeration of the media and authorities. More of this sort of comment will soon flood online media and chat rooms

The media was scratching desperately for 'disaster stories' all through the night and were showing old film footage from the 36 year ago cyclone tracy disaster, interspersed with footage of Katrina in the US as well as inserting clips from the recent Brisbane floods.

BUT -- they were quick to announce that food costs would rise as result of the grossly exaggerated cyclone Yasi


And of course, were quick to beg for donations again

You can see the truth here, in these recordings from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology:

www.bom.gov.au...

Latest Weather Observations for Mackay
Issued at 3:05 pm EST Thursday 3 February 2011

The top table is for the town of Mackay on the Queensland coast. The media was claiming Mackay ' will bear the full brunt of this killer cyclone ' and was predicting dire loss of life and property, etc.

Have a look under the heading of ' Wind'. Then beneath that, the kilometres per hour


Here's a sampling:


19 kph

20 kph

21 kph


Nowhere on that table, published by the Aus. govt. themselves, did winds exceeded 35 kph. Cyclists on their way home from work easily peddle at 35 kph

reply to post by Dock9


That's creepy.
Not sure I buy the anti-hype but the hype is real enough and if it's used to gain more taxes, that's sick.

I wonder how long it will take for New Orleans, LA to start trying to gain sympathy in the wake of this storm?
Sorry, Mississippian cheap shot.

Seriously, though, I was chatting with a friend in Australia who is currently fighting drought and brush fires, even as this storm was bearing down. Australia is suffering a wrath and fury of late.
My heart and blessed wishes go out to all of you Aussies. As soon as Mother Earth is done transforming your island, I am sure you all can count on plenty of global support to help with the rebuilding.

In the meantime, be safe and be blessed.

reply to post by wheresthetruth


My friend, I take this as a sign of the times. We need to get used to more dramatic weather patterns. I just hope people never forget that what's important in life - each other.

Originally posted by wheresthetruth
I wonder how long it will take for New Orleans, LA to start trying to gain sympathy in the wake of this storm?
Sorry, Mississippian cheap shot.

Seriously, though, I was chatting with a friend in Australia who is currently fighting drought and brush fires, even as this storm was bearing down. Australia is suffering a wrath and fury of late.
My heart and blessed wishes go out to all of you Aussies. As soon as Mother Earth is done transforming your island, I am sure you all can count on plenty of global support to help with the rebuilding.

In the meantime, be safe and be blessed.

Thank you very much for your concern. There are no deaths at this stage so it appears we are all good. The devastation does not appear to be as severe as Cyclone Tracey in the 70's.

I guess we were better prepared this time.

Images

From

Cyclone Yasi in photos

Source Here

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Bad, but...

Live coverage of the news now on :-

news stream

Alot of destruction but I did notice all cars on the roads moving around.

reply to post by Dock9


Have you bothered to look at a map Dock9? Mackay is 600 kilometres away from where the eye crossed the coast. I have family who live in Lucinda. They had to evacuate to Townsville. They haven't been able to return to their house yet (roads closed) and they expect their house will be gone.

Trust me, the winds were stronger than 20 km/hr.

reply to post by squandered


Thank you for those.
All I can say is wow. It's a miracle that people survived that after looking at some of those houses.
I can only hope now that mother nature is going to stop battering you, Australia. My love and thoughts to you all xxx