Cairns Cyclone Blog

For Those That Want To Know About Cyclones

And Online Account During Cyclone Steve

We are often ask by both friends and relatives down in the southern parts of Oz how can we live in the tropics with the likelihood of cyclones. The answer is  simple, we've been here for over sixteen years and we are still here, and that's not to say that there haven't been any cross the coast in this region during that time. There have been several, and  the last 3 have crossed at Machans Beach! Everyone's property and ourselves survived very well, it's all a matter of being prepared and with modern weather forecasting there is generally a good amount of warning.

9am, 27th February 2000

A tropical cyclone named 'Steve' is now just 150 km's away. This type of storm is not usual in the tropics at this time of year, there has been two others in the last three years.  It isn't exactly huge at the moment, still only winds to 110 km's per hour, but you never know what these things can do.  Cairns has had quite a bit of rain in the last two weeks, there has been a few flooded rivers, and these are only just starting to go down.  Now the weather bureau are predicting heavy to flooding rains over the next 24 hours.  

Stay tuned, over the next few hours as regular updates will be written on what is happening (as long as the power doesn't go out),

12 midday 27th February 2000

The cyclone is now just 100 km's away and the rain is starting to fall now.  The wind is now what you would call a stiff breeze, but still nothing really to worry about. Definitely the time to take a walk outside while it can be done safely.

The cyclone has now been upgraded to a category two, with winds to 130 km/hour near the centre.  Probably to a lot of people, this is just a big storm.  They say that it is still increasing in size though, so maybe by the time it gets here, it might just make a category 3, the same size as Cyclone Rona last year.  Rona hit just north of Port Douglas, in Cape Tribulation, not causing too much damage in Cairns, just flooding.  This cyclone is heading more towards the area of coastline between Port Douglas and Cairns, a bit closer than last year.

2.30 pm 27th February 2000

The rain is absolutely bucketing down now.  Still no sign of the high winds that are supposed to hit within the next couple of hours though.   The cyclone has now deepened quite a lot and now has wind gusts are to 140 km per hour near the centre according to the Weather Bureau.

3.45 pm 27th February 2000

Winds are definitely picking up now, with some strong gusts coming through and here people are thinking that it might just be a bit of a non event.

They have just said on TV that they expect the eye of the cyclone to cross the coast tonight at around 7 pm, and that the Northern Beaches of Cairns are going to cop it the worst.  Who really knows?.  Judging by the gust that hit just had a second ago, things are getting worse very quickly.  And the rain radar on TV shows the worst is on the other side of the cyclone, still about eighty km's away.  It is rather exciting stuff, but you  have to keep you fingers crossed anyway!!

5.30 pm 27th February 2000

Now we know that there is a cyclone coming!  The rain is pouring down and the wind is really blowing now.  The cyclone has intensified to 160 km per hour near the centre and is now only 55 km away.  Everything is locked inside so that it doesn't get blown away and we hope everybody else has done the right thing.

Steve is coming and will probably be here in the next couple of hours!!

6.30 pm 27th February 2000

This will be the last update until tomorrow morning, as it is decided that for safety reasons, phone lines, power, computers and such don't mix.   The cyclone is expected to hit in just two and a half  hours from now,  the winds are already strong and the rain hasn't stopped since early this afternoon.  Some of the trees are starting to look a little worse for wear, a look outside the window shows some starting to fall over and the wind is howling through any gap in the windows.  

At present it seems like the worst one that has been through the Cairns area so far, but will check back tomorrow morning, and find out exactly what went on during the night.

10th March 2000

Apologies for leaving everyone hanging for the last two weeks as to what did exactly happened with the cyclone.  A couple of emails have been received from people who were a little angry for the entire story not being completed.  You have to understand that when these storms do cross the coast in populated areas, it's inevitable that powerlines come down it can take a couple days before being reconnected. Updating stories on web pages is really down the list of tasks to do in the aftermath, however here is what happened in the end.

Cyclone Steve crossed the coast just north of Cairns at around 8pm on the 27th of February.  It brought with it the second highest wind gust ever recorded at the Cairns Airport of 146 km per hour.  On the Northern Beaches close to the airport  the full force of  force of those  winds were felt,  with little structural damage other than trees etc down and the electricity cut. After around 10 pm, the winds had dropped back to almost nothing.  Very strange.  However, the next morning around Cairns showed that not everyone had been so lucky.

There were a few buildings that had the roofs ripped off, and the Cairns Esplanade had a few trees that had fallen over.  There was tree debris everywhere, lots of branches and leaves lying around, and quite a few road signs were twisted and fallen over. In their usual responsive manner  the Cairns City Council were already out cleaning up in atrocious weather conditions.  They had their tree mulchers out getting rid of a lot of the branches, and clearing the drains of any rubbish.

After a couple days taking a drive around Cairns , you would hardly even know that there was a cyclone.  Everything has been cleaned up, with a few little mountains of debris on the sidewalks here and there still to be cleared up.  Other than that, Cairns is looking really good.  There is still a bit of bad weather hanging around, with light rain still falling, but this is expected to clear in the next couple of days.

So there you go.  Don't go cancelling your holidays to Australia just yet. The 'wet' season is nearly over and there are only blue skies and superb weather ahead!!