Tropical Cyclone Yasi Final

Position: 17.5S 146.8E [ 6 PM CST 0000 UTC 10AM AEST].
Movement: West-Southwest [240°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [110 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [140 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 255 miles [405 km].
Minimum central pressure: 980 mb ↑.

Currently inland about 230 miles [ 370 km] Southwest of Cairns, Australia.

A Cyclone Warning is current for coastal and island communities from Cardwell to Ayr, extending west across the tropical interior to the Northern Territory border, including Mt Isa and Longreach.

The storm has weakened to a Saffir-Simpson Tropical Storm / Australian Category 2 Cyclone and will probably be a low pressure area by the time it reaches the border with the Northern Territory.

Tully, Mission Beach, Silkwood, Innisfail, and Cardwell got the worst of it when Yasi came ashore.  The ABC’s Yasi Live Blog has pictures from some of the areas, and they got stomped. There are no reports of fatalities currently, but there hasn’t been much time to do the search and rescue, especially in the rural areas. This was a huge storm and it cut a wide path across northern Queensland.

In addition to all of the trees that were pushed over by the wind, more trees will die in the next couple of years due to the defoliation by the wind, and the salt spray that was carried inland.

It will be a long time before things will get back to normal, especially with power out to a couple of hundred thousand people, and trees and utility poles across the roads.

Update: Oh, yes, as if the news wasn’t “sour” enough: Bananas, sugar to skyrocket after Yasi

Almost all Australia’s bananas are grown in the path of the storm, and about one third of the country’s sugar cane.

Cane sugar is used for ethanol as well as cookies in Australia, so fuel prices will go up too.