SayethWhaaaa 245 Posted February 2, 2011 (edited) So unfortunately Queenslanders are about to have Cyclone Yasi jump on them with both feet in roughly an hour and a half, only a couple of weeks after the largest and most comprehensive floods in their history. Although preparing for a while now, in the last 24 hours it was upgraded to a Category 5 Cyclone with winds expected to exceed Katrina's 280kph (175mph). This will be the one of the largest cyclones in Australia's history. I have some friends who've evacuated South from Townsville to Proserpine and it looks as though they'll still take a beating from Yasi there, over 260kms (164 miles) away! Just to get an idea of how immense this event is, some images have been released showing how it compares if it landed various continents: CONUS: Europe: Asia: Some scary stuff! Here's a link with further details So here's hoping those who are still in it's path are able to get out somehow and that those who got out in time will have somewhere to return to! Edited February 2, 2011 by Say What?! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JediMaster 451 Posted February 2, 2011 Well, the real "storm" is only the central red part. The rest is just bands of mild rain and wind that ruin your day but little else, aside from possibly exacerbating a flood condition. Reminds me of Floyd back around 10-15 yrs ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Derk 265 Posted February 2, 2011 My daughter is in Ozzie (safely near Adelaide) but a friend of hers made a facebook post is in the evacuation centre at Inisfail, right in the middle of things.... We'll hear about it later, but I wonder how safe this is: looks like the only real safe thing would be an Atlantikwal style bunker.... Houdoe, Derk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted February 2, 2011 Best of luck to my Aussie friends..And my Niece and Brother out there!..It's gonna be a tough 24 hrs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SayethWhaaaa 245 Posted February 4, 2011 Quick update to this. Yasi lost a lot of power as it hit the coast, but still caused a lot of damage to thousands of homes and completely destroyed this year's banana harvest (and others). There was a potential for the body count to reach into the hundreds, but so far it's in the single digits. Seems like they were very lucky! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted February 4, 2011 Yeah...Hardly a 'Storm in a Teacup'...but could have been much worse Share this post Link to post Share on other sites