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!!
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