Plan B Forum

Cyclone Yasi will hit the north Queensland coast with greater ferocity than devastating Cyclone Larry, according to Premier Anna Bligh.

Thousands of residents, as well as patients at Cairns hospital, face the prospect of evacuations today as the huge storm front bears down.

Latest modelling indicates the cyclone has moved slightly north and is now due to cross the coast between Tully and Lucinda, about 140 kilometres north of Townsville.

Ms Bligh, speaking after a meeting of the state disaster management group this morning, said winds of more than 250kmh could be expected from the high category four system.

By comparison Larry, which caused $1.5 billion worth of damage to Innisfail and surrounds in 2006, was a mid-level category four system.

"This of course is not only a system now tracking as more intense than Cyclone Larry, it is significantly larger than Cyclone Larry," Ms Bligh told reporters.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environ ... 1abmx.html

CYCLONE YASI has been upgraded to a category five cyclone, surpassing the size and destructive intensity of the cyclones Larry and Tracy.



It is expected to smash into the coast near Cairns tonight, with furious winds, torrential rain and floods adding to Queensland's massive damage bill from natural disasters this summer.

The cyclone was upgraded overnight, meaning winds of up to around the 300km/h mark are expected.



Senior Bureau forecaster Gordon Banks said Yasi could take at least 24 hours to weaken after it makes landfall.

"There’s still potential for it to become stronger ... as a strong category five we could see wind gusts in excess of 320 kilometres an hour, which is just horrific," he told the ABC this morning.

The storm surge is expected to reach 2.5 metres above the highest tide, inundating Cairns CBD.

Cairns Mayor Val Schier told ABC Radio that some people were refusing to leave their homes and "that is their prerogative", but they were at risk if they did not move to higher land.

Most businesses in the city had closed down by this morning and very few people were on the streets, she said. But Ms Schier said some people were not taking the cyclone warnings as seriously as they should.

"We are as ready as we can be but it is frightening, I can tell you," she said.

The Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, said lives could be lost and warned that flooding from a storm surge, caused by high winds pushing water onshore, could be more dangerous than wind and flying debris.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weath ... 1acgp.html

320 kilometres an hour

The north Queensland town of Tully is a scene of mass devastation with roofs torn from houses and power poles knocked over by the powerful cyclone.

But Yasi’s fury has been felt hundreds of kilometres away, in Cairns to the north, and Townsville to the south, and all the places in between.

More than 170,000 homes are currently without power.

But there have been no reports so far of serious injuries or fatalities, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said this morning.

She said the picture in the region would become clearer as the day progressed.

"It is still not safe out on many of those streets. Often serious injury and fatalities occur after the cyclone has passed," Ms Bligh told ABC Radio.

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