Typhoon/Cyclone Yasi, winds up to 295 km/h, striking Innisfail, February 2, 2011, no word yet

UPDATE: VIDEOS AVAILABLE HERE (hat tip to reader Nicola Vaughen): http://cyclone.videohq.tv/

Yasi smashes Innisfail, northern centres

Staff reporters

February 2, 2011

Size compared to Katrina  (http://yfrog.com/f/h57bgp/):


Animated color loop:  http://www.goes.noaa.gov/sohemi/sohemiloops/shirgmscol.html

• Strong winds batter North Queensland
• Tides could surge up to 7 m
• Residents bunkering down in homes
• Wind speeds nearly 300 km/h recorded

Cyclone Yasi is smashing the town of Innisfail but authorities have no way of knowing the extent of the damage caused so far.

Cassowary Coast Mayor Bill Shannon said the category 5 cyclone was hitting the town, which was virtually destroyed by Cyclone Larry in 2006, very hard.

"The cyclone is very much upon us, the wind is getting pretty fast and the rain is getting heavier by the minute," he said.

"It's just a matter of getting through the next few hours to the eye and then another few hours after that."

Strong winds and heavy rain were also being experienced at Tully but so far the storm has caused minimal damage, locals reported.

Cassowary Coast councillor Ross Sorbello said winds were picking up as the eye of the Category Five storm moves towards the coast.

Wind gusts of 285 km/h have been detected near the eye of the cyclone and the bureau has warned of a dangerous storm tide and "battering waves" south of the cyclone centre.

Emergency authorities have found crisis accommodation for residents who were this afternoon temporarily turned away from evacuation centres in Cairns, according to a spokesman for Mayor Val Shier.

“We had buses to take them to evacuation centres where there was spare capacity,” he said.

“There was also spillover centres opened so that everybody who turned up to a centre has been accommodated.”

Some of these spillover centres are school halls and the spokesman said everybody was now inside a shelter.

“It is not safe to drive anywhere. It is not safe to go outside. Wherever you are now, you should shelter there for the next 24 hours,” he said.

Click for more photos

Yasi moves in on north Queensland

Winds pick up at the Townsville Strand. Photo: James Woodford

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

People seeking refuge from the effects of Yasi were earlier turned away at the entrance to jammed evacuation shelters as the monster storm bore down on north Queensland.

Authorities have recorded wind speeds of 295 km/h and warned that storm surges of up to 7 metres could hit Cardwell, between Townsville and Cairns, as the cyclone’s expected arrival late tonight combines with a high tide.

The life-threatening system is forecast to cross the coast near Innisfail, with furious winds, torrential rain and floods adding to Queensland’s massive damage bill from natural disasters this summer.

Cairns residents were told around lunch time that all seven of the city’s cyclone shelters were full and people should stay where they were and batten down.

“Some areas are already experiencing strong wind gusts up to 125km/h which will increase throughout the afternoon and evening,” Cairns Regional Council said in a statement.

Scores of people were seen this afternoon waiting wait in the open outside evacuation centres, hoping and praying police would relent and squeeze them in before the storm’s arrival.

At a shopping centre which serves as a shelter in Cairns, Selwyn Hughes stood with his family in the uncovered carpark and said his only comfort for the moment was in numbers.

“There are so many of us here. Surely they have to do something, find somewhere safer to move us to before it arrives,” he said, squatting on a pink suitcase with his five children, aged two to 13.

The family’s only possessions were a small box of food, including a tin of powdered milk, and clothes and a pram for two-year-old daughter Minoota.

Around them, 80 others sat on the ground and shared advice or sympathy.

At a steel barrier gate, four police guarded entry to a ramp up to a cinema complex being used as a rooftop entry point to the makeshift cyclone shelter, as grey clouds swirled and winds whistled over fences and rooftops.

"It's making it very difficult. We're disappointed we can't take any more people in, but I've been through in there and it's just not safe," said acting police inspector John Bosnjak.

Inside, more than 2000 people lay in front of shuttered shops and food courts, or sat on empty tables, while children played on moving walkways.

Around 30,000 people in low-lying suburbs evacuated their homes and many poured into the centres when doors opened early this morning, or bunkered down in the homes of friends at the urging of the government, helping ease the strain on shelters.

Others joined a stream of traffic heading south.

At 8pm, the severe category-five cyclone was estimated to be 135 kilometres east northeast of Innisfail and 165 kilometres east southest of Cairns. It was moving west southwest at 26 kilometres per hour.

Strong wind gusts have been recorded in Townsville, strengthening from 74km/h at 6pm to 89 km/h at 7pm.

Yasi is expected to hit around Innisfail about midnight tonight. The bureau’s track map shows it could, however, make landfall as far south as Cardwell or just south of Cairns.

A cyclone warning remains in place for coastal and island communities from Cape Flattery to Sarina, extending west across the tropical interior to the Northern Territory border, amid fears the large storm will pose a serious threat to lives and property in the region. 

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said this afternoon all movement should now cease and people should take cover.

“The time for movement and evacuation has now passed,” she said this afternoon. "People should be sheltering in place wherever they are."

Ms Bligh said 10,680 people were now sheltering in evacuation centres.

She said 4000 people had also registered their locations with authorities, allowing relatives and friends to be reassured about their whereabouts and safety.

Wind gusts nearly 300km/h

At 2pm local time, Ms Bligh said wind gusts were being recorded at 290km/h.

“The system has now moved into the zone covered by the Cairns radar system,” she said.

Ms Bligh said the bureau continued to hold grave concerns about the strength of the system for some time after it crossed the coast.

Inland towns will be hit tomorrow, with Cyclone Yasi expected to remain at a category-three intensity when it arrives at Georgetown, 450km west of Cairns, at 7am.

Click here for full Cyclone Yasi coverage

Residents must take precautions

State disaster co-ordinator Ian Stewart said those sheltering in their homes should take care. He said residents who took precautions as requested would reduce their risk of injury or death.

Mr Stewart urged people to look after their families and neighbours, saying emergency workers would also have to stay in positions of safety until weather conditions abated.

He said a judgment would have to be made about whether to respond to triple-zero calls reporting life-threatening emergencies during the cyclone, as emergency workers would also be putting their lives at risk.

“People have to understand that at some point it becomes too dangerous to be out and about,” Mr Stewart said.

Huge storm surge

Mr Stewart said Cardwell could experience a storm surge of 6.5 to 7 metres above the normal high tide, and lives were at stake.

As a result, waves as high as 12m are predicted to hit the north Queensland coast putting tens of thousands of oceanfront and low-lying homes in Cairns and Townsville at risk of inundation.

Weather Channel meteorologist Tom Saunders said a storm surge was caused by winds at the centre of the cyclone pushing the ocean on to coastline, while the low pressure in the atmosphere caused the sea level to rise.

"It's not like a tsunami, it's not like one massive wave, it will just gradually rise up as the cyclone approaches and on top of that you will have huge waves because the swell is so big," he said.

Category five

Earlier today, Cyclone Yasi was upgraded to a category five cyclone, surpassing the size and destructive intensity ofcyclones Larry and Tracy.

“Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi is a large and very powerful tropical cyclone and poses an extremely serious threat to life and property within the warning area, especially between Cairns and Townsville,” the Bureau of Meteorology said this afternoon.

“During the evening, the very destructive core of Cyclone Yasi will cross the coast between Cairns and Ingham, accompanied by a dangerous storm tide south of the cyclone centre.”

Coastal residents within the warning area, and particularly between Cairns and Proserpine including the Whitsundays, have been warned to expect an “extremely dangerous sea level rise”.

“Damaging winds with gusts to 90km/h are currently affecting the coast and islands, and are forecast to spread into the tropical interior overnight and west to Mt Isa during Thursday,” bureau advice at 6pm said.

“Between Port Douglas and Ayr these winds will become destructive with gusts in excess of 125km/h developing during the couple of hours, spreading into the eastern tropical interior overnight. Very destructive winds with gusts up to 290km/h are expected to develop between Cairns and Ingham during the evening as the cyclone approaches and crosses the coast. These very destructive winds will also occur to the north of the cyclone and affect the Atherton Tablelands.

“Due to the large size of the cyclone, people in the path of the very destructive winds are likely to experience these conditions for about 3 to 4 hours.”

with AAP and Reuters

Link:  http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/yasi-smashes-innisfail-northern-centres-20110201-1acgp.html