I hope our friend's down under are making out OK in the storm

[Dan_Shade]

Austrailia got hit with a super cyclone with winds of 180mph.

hope all of them can check in soon that are effected.

[Ianab]

Just watching the reports on TV and it seems to have hit further north than any of the Aussie members.
Winds onshore were over 200kmph (120mph) and about 1/3 of the houses in the area have lost roofs.
Trees down everywhere and bananas and sugar cane crops have been wiped out.
No fatalities reported although a few serious injuries  :(
At least the Aussie have the sense to build their towns ABOVE sealevel.

Ian

[asy]

Hi guys!

Sigidi is only a little north of me, and we're quite a ways south of the affected areas. Thanks for asking though :D

As Ian said, I don't think we have any members (Certainly no 'usuals') that come from any further north than Sig or I...

My builder's mum is in Innisfail, the town which was worst hit, and it's her 80th birthday next weekend. He's heard from her and she's OK, but he was going up there later in the week, he's brought it forward and is leaving on Wednesday. He's not sure she's telling the truth or not wanting to worry him. Either way, many of her friends and neighbours have lost varying amounts, from a tree or two, to whole houses gone...

My friend Wendy's father and sister are on the northern skirt of where the cyclone hit, in Kuranda (north of cairns) and they are fine too.

The footage is harrowing, and the SES (State Emergency Services) are already on the scene.

They were predicting 4m storm surges which haven't arrived, which is good, because on top of the 2m king tides it would have been disasterous. There's another cyclone on it's way, which will hit in almost the same area, but thankfully it's a little smaller than Larry.

The news was likening the storm to New Orleans (size wise), and as you said, our towns are all above sea level, some JUST above, but still above. there will be devastation, but nothing like N.O. where the sea just broke through and took over.

the problem with this is that the rain that's going to be an issue now, the rivers up there are already pretty full, and with the dumping from two cyclones, quite a few areas are predicting big floods.

Also, most of the northern Banana crop has been wiped out, which means about 4000 people out of work in the one region.

Let's hope the beurocracy really does do what they are promising and get behind the people there, and not just the out of work employees, but also the farmers who've lost their livelihoods.

asy :D

[crtreedude]

Asy and Ian,

Good to hear you escaped the worst! Are cyclones pretty rare down your way - or do we just not hear about it much up here?

Fred

[DoubleD]

Asy Ianab I am glad that everything is ok for you

[asy]

Hey Fred, nah, Cyclones are certainly not rare on the northern Queensland Coast, and this is cyclone season.

When we build here, we have Cyclone ratings on the houses, you need to check your area rating prior to designing the house. Where I am is N1, which is not a cyclone rating, but where Sigidi is, is C1. Which is the lowest actual cyclone rating. There have been Cyclones hit Brisbane, but I'm so far inland that if it hit me, there's serious problems.

We're just about to start building a spec house closer to the coast and it's N3, still not cyclone, but higher than where I live.

this just means that when we build we have to include tie-downs in the walls, to literally tie the roof to the floor, so it doesn't fly away.

The northern coast is hit every couple of years, but hit by a BIG one only rarely. The last one as big as Larry was Cyclone Tracey which devastated Darwin in 1974 (from memory).

Here's a list of specs with respect to cyclone strengths...  TABLE or Another here

Cyclone season is our summer, also known as monsoon season, the north of queensland is very much biseasonal, the wet and the dry. The wet is summer, which is cyclone season. The majority of cyclones hit from Jan to April, with March being worst of all.

asy :D

PS: Thanks DD!

[Ianab]

NZ is technically South of where they call them cyclones any more, but the remnants will still spin thru here occasionally and they haven't allways wound down completely. Then the mountains funnel up the winds again, so 100mph winds aren't unusual on the hills around Wellington. Then of course there is the storms that spin up from the South, things get interesting if two of them meet up here 

Ian

[sawguy21]

A tropical storm meeting a cold front from Antarctica would get nasty alright.

[Ianab]

Looks like the 2nd cyclone that formed off Aussie took a left turn and headed for NZ instead.
It wont be cyclone strength by the time it gets here, but will still be some rough weather  :
Wonder if it will blow over anything interesting  ;) :D

Ian