The Auswine Forum

In for a hammering I feel. Looks like Cardwell-Ingham unless it changes course. That means destructive winds here, probably loss of electricity, the area I'm in still with overhead wire. Of course the reduced number of staff at Ergon Energy will most likely be directed to the worst affected areas which don't look like including here. Fridge losses acceptpable but have a freezer full of contents that may well be lost and the wine cabinets with my precious's.

The internet is great but I don't have a laptop with battery power. Charging mobille and batteries for other uses plus have backup alkalines, candles.

I've some worries about the 65yo house withstanding the onslught but it survived Althea in '71 so hopefully it won't be too damaged this time. I was here in 71 during Althea. Cyclones are NOT exciting - they're scary, big time - and this one's bigger than Althea and deepening.

When I took on the mortgage for the house I did so in the belief that it should be above the level of most, if not all storm surges, and its on the n SSE slopes of Castle Hill so hopefully the surge won't be an issue due to the site being a bit elevated. But I fear the wind - it can be nasty, nasty, nasty.

May not be much sleep tonight with the increasing wind speeds increasing the tension - I remember Althea.

Just have to wait while nature takes it's course.

daz

Jeez, Darryl, I'm thinking of you. I was also a wee nipper living in Townsville when Althea hit in 71, and I watched a house two corners down from us blow apart. 200km/h winds arent fun in anyones language. Ruined ny Christmas good and proper.

AB

Wizz wrote:Jeez, Darryl, I'm thinking of you. I was also a wee nipper living in Townsville when Althea hit in 71, and I watched a house two corners down from us blow apart. 200km/h winds arent fun in anyones language. Ruined ny Christmas good and proper.

AB

Thanks Wizz, thought I'd get a response from you, knowing you're from here. I was 17 when Althea hit so have a pretty clear recollection of it's affect, including watching bits of houses flying by - fortunately our house (a Planet Homes butterbox) suffered superficial dameage only, from a few bits of the house next door.

Fortunately for Townsville Larry seems to have swung a little further north but we're still in for some big winds and probably some of the storm surge. High tide's 2.3m, 10-11am tomorrow so some of Railway Estate/South Townsville may be inundated to the level of a super king tide.

This one may be as bad as Tracey, New Orleans. I'm checking the B.o.M. site as soon as I think the latest warning's been issued. One reason that the internet is great.

Nature in the Tropics can be much more extreme than a few severe storms in the southeast. At least the RR dam may finally fill again.

Regards

daz

Also following the cyclone with interest.

Currently living away from my Townsville home for 6 months in Maryborough (QLD) during my wife's 6 month rural term for her GP training.

Have to rely on my brother-in-law to secure the house.

The latest advice (8PM) is that Larry is intensifying but is expected to hit between Innisfail and Mission Beach between 8am and 9am tomorrow morning (QLD time). This is about 300 kms north of Townsville but Townsville should get some decent wind and rain.

Good luck riding out the storm Daz.

Cheers

Scott

Thanks Scott. Except for the house you're probably better off not being here during the event.

Regards

daz

Living in the hurricaine paradaise and being thru 8 of them in the last 2 years, I follow this one as well
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArti ... n=theworld
and my heart is with you, mate.

Yeah I think I am better off down here. My in-laws also live in Townsville but are at the Commonwealth games. It took my brother-in-law over 3 hrs to clean up their backyard.

I can't believe that I actually miss Townsville bottle shops. The range in Maryborough is pretty ordinary and most of the bottle shops are not airconditioned. I think I have almost exhausted all of the oddly priced bargains here but at least I have managed a few trips to Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast to stock up. And there is always your friendly e-tailer.

Cheers

Scott

All the best Daz. For those interested you can follow the cyclone here:-
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~geofg/entry.html

MM.

Thanks for the replies people.

Now I'm more worried about a brother who lives at Yungaburra on the Atherton Tableland, not very far south of Atherton. The latest threat map on the Burea of Meteorology site (www.bom.gov.au - I've been monitoring all afternoon) shows he and his wife to be pretty much in the centre of the path of Larry. Being on the Tableland they're not in any danger from a storm surge but this is a BIG, POWERFUL cyclone and the're only 40km from Innisfail, as the crow flies.

So I expect sleep will be difficult tonight. Work tomorrow, but it won't be easy.

Cheers

daz

Looks like a big one. I hope Aussies are prepared for this calamity better than New Orleans was.

Good luck everyone up that way. Heard it got promoted to Category 5 this morning and the updates I heard sounded pretty bad. Hope you all get through with everything intact.

bacchaebabe wrote:Good luck everyone up that way. Heard it got promoted to Category 5 this morning and the updates I heard sounded pretty bad. Hope you all get through with everything intact.

Thanks Kris

Yes, Larry did hit cat 5. Sure to be covered in the news tonight. No probs here and when I called my brother about lunchtime their only problem was toppled trees, fortunately not on their house but apparently one hit their neighbours place. Will be calling them tonight for an update.

Cyclone problems aren't all over yet though. There's another one lurking in the Coral Sea and on the B.o.M. site it appears to be heading towards here though it's too early to be sure. Currently cat 2, it may slow down and intensify before heading towards land, that is if it does.

We still need more rain here but it doesn't look like we'll get much more unless Wati(?) crosses the coast and changes into a rain depression. Must've put something in the dam though. Hopefully enough to get us through to the next wet without having to resort to pumping Burdekin Dam water from the Haughton River near Giru.

Regards

daz

Glad you're okay Daz. All the best with the clean up.

Simm

simm wrote:Glad you're okay Daz. All the best with the clean up.

Simm

Thanks Simm

No damage to speak of in Townsville coz Innisfail's about 300km north of here. All we had were a few gusty winds with a bit of rain but mostly there was little wind and not enough rain. Phew!

Cheers

daz

Jeez, isnt Innisfail a mess though? Sort of how I remember Townsville after Althea, but worse. 295km/h wind is pretty unbelievable.

Wizz wrote:Jeez, isnt Innisfail a mess though? Sort of how I remember Townsville after Althea, but worse. 295km/h wind is pretty unbelievable.

Much worse than here after Althea mate. The early mail is 50% of ALL buildings damaged; and I suspect as many as a third of all buildings may well be write-offs. Not as bad as Tracey but I think the inadequate building standards there at the time contibuted significantly to the devastation of Darwin. Channel 7's Qld news last night devoted at least half of the broadcast to Innisfail with lots of video - scary stuff.

daz

Daryl, glad you and yours are OK.

Serge wrote:Daryl, glad you and yours are OK.

Thank you for your kind thoughts Serge and of course, again to all who've responded similarly.

daz

I will say it's been most gratifying to see the rapid deployment of the military into the region - looks like Australia learnt from Katrina.

Purified water, emergency shelter and food supplies all look to be getting to those who need it, and in rapid order. I don't have too many kind words for the Howard government, but they've done well so far.

manning wrote:I will say it's been most gratifying to see the rapid deployment of the military into the region - looks like Australia learnt from Katrina.

Purified water, emergency shelter and food supplies all look to be getting to those who need it, and in rapid order. I don't have too many kind words for the Howard government, but they've done well so far.

The rapid deployment of military personnel including specialists appropriate for the situation has happened in almost every natural disaster on a similar scale to Larry, in Australia, since I can remember - regardless of the party/ies of the government/s at the time . Of course, the Army was on the spot when Althea hit here and they were magnificent then just as they were after Tracy hit Darwin. The current deployment is just as impressive but needs to continue to grow, as it has been doing since Monday. But, hey, the military are spread pretty thin with the overseas deployments. Rain and flooding has hampered the operation of rotary aircraft today, caused further difficulties in transporting much-needed equipment, personnel and supplies to the disaster area as well as added to the misery of the victims of this extreme weather event.

Then there's: the local butcher in Innisfail who rather than have his wares just rot, just put on a barbecue for those who needed to be fed; the cafe owner in Babinda which suffered relatively much more destruction and devastation than Innisfail who did similarly; and the volunteers who themselves have no homes to return to but are doing what they can to assist in the clean-up. Indeed, a couple of young guys in an obviously personal 4wd turned up at my brother's place not long after the storm had abated, with a chainsaw and no safety gear apart from boots, helped him clear the driveway - he didn't know them, they were just going down the street clearing driveways. At least he was able to go get some much-deserved takeway beer after spending most of the day cleaning up some of the mess.

The Howard government has responded as it should, I think. Although $1000 after losing your home, as generous as it is, doesn't help much if there's nothing you can buy from the shops. Well, those that haven't been at least half destroyed, still have saleable merchandise.

Katrina has absolutley no relevance to the FNQ situation. New Orleans' main problems were being below sea level and the sheer size of the population. The USA government/s and military could learn a helluva lot from Australia's, though Katrina was unique in many ways.

daz