Cyclone Ita
The ABC updated reporting:
Cyclone Ita, a destructive category-five storm, is on a collision course with far north Queensland.
The weather bureau says Ita has slowed down as it heads towards the coast and should make landfall near Cape Flattery, about 70 kilometres north of Cooktown, late tonight.
The dangerous system will generate storm surges, high tides and very destructive winds of up to 300 kilometres per hour [186mph].
Parts of the coast could receive up to 300 millimetres [a foot] of rain every six hours for several days after Ita hits.
I added the conversions in brackets.
This is going to be as bad as Yasi was. The storm is slowing, so it won’t be a quick transit, and it will have more time to build the storm surge.
4 comments
Thanks Bryan. 🙂
Here’s the latest from ABC:
Cyclone Ita: Residents assess damage in far north Queensland
Cyclone Ita: Power outages, floods hit north Queensland as storm system continues
At least it isn’t going into the interior, but it is still feeding off the warm coastal water. The good news is that the season is coming to an end. The late storms are usually the worst. I haven’t seen any casualties reported, and I hope it stays that way.
Now the clean-up begins.
Still no casualties reported (in Aus.) I’m happy to say. 🙂 I guess people learned their lessons from Yasi after all.
The damage caused by Ita was quite far ranging though. From the Solomon Islands, to Papua New Guinea to Australia to New Zealand. The great Barrier Reef took a big hit, but did what it was supposed to do and dampened the storm somewhat before it hit Queensland. 🙂
Unfortunately, as well as dealing with Ita, the Solomons had to deal with a 6.0 MW earthquake on April 4th, with a stronger 7.1 MW Earthquake followed by a 6.5 MW on the 11th. Pretty much everyone from here to Taiwan has donated relief money (a total of about $6 million), personnel and equipment to help the Solomon Islands. Honiara and Guadalcanal have been declared disaster areas.
There is a comprehensive Wiki about Ita now (of course!) 😀
Cyclone Ita
Barrier reefs and islands are quite useful. My little rental house is protected by the million dollar building on the barrier island, one of the more expensive seawalls in the world.
Yes, that Solomon Island quake cluster was really a ‘big one’. Having 3 major quakes following in quick succession like that pretty much guarantees flattening almost everything that was standing, and Ita was salt in the wound. So much for the romance of living on a South Sea island,