Cyclone Watch
http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/index.shtml
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml





Stay safe all you Queenslanders (esp you Bandicoot!). We're just down here in NSW sweltering in 40C+ temps.
Our newspaper had a small article from the Associated Press, on page 2. It was sent from Sydney, saying that the cyclone might hit in Queensland on Wednesday or Thursday.
After checking NTCH's links, it looks more like Wednesday.
Be careful, Queenslanders, esp Bandicoot!
If we dump my blizzard down under on the cyclone, do you think they would cancel each other out?
ugh, we've spent the whole morning moving verandah and garden stuff inside.....filling our spare water tank (rather than tying it down).....checking the generator....charging batteries....getting food, fuel, cooking gas....chopping wood....swapping tarps with the neighbours....making sandbags at my parent's house....running laundry.....rolling and moving rugs.....and generally getting ready in our workshop and home.
we are as ready as we can be.
tomorrow we will park the car against the new french doors and move the potted plants behind the water tanks.
we might have some refugees who are being evacuated out of flood-prone areas. i've got towels and bed linen ready for them.
it will blow and rain like hell here, but we won't get flooding.
the cyclone is expected to cross the coast between cairns and innisfail and we are exactly half way between them.
awesome.
and truly, it would have been a lot lot lot worse without the decluttering that has been happening here.
thanks for the well wishes...we are going to need them. it should all be happening in about 36 hour's time.
and i hear there are *snow tornadoes* in the USA. what is up with that?
@ bandicoot - I haven't heard anything about "snow tornadoes". Is that even possible? That storm is going to cause a lot of problems for a lot of people. I'm glad that the northern edge of storm is just grazing my area.
I hoop the cyclone doesn't do too much damage; for you and everyone else. Australia sure could use a break. It's so heartbreaking.
yes, it has been an eye-opening start to the year, for sure!
JJ, you stay safe too.
@bandicoot: I just checked the National Weather Service (US) website. There are no tornadoes now, just the blizzard and ice. It is expected to affect 30 states.
Will you board up or shutter your home? Oh, the thoughts of all of those beautiful windows and new French doors. Be safe and take care. This is a scary time and your country has already had too much disaster.
And amazingingly neither the state I'm in nor the one where my home is are affected - whew! I'm sending "be safe" thoughts to Queenslanders - you've had too much weather recently.
queenslanders don't seem to be into storm windows or shutters.
i've never seen them on houses here.
odd, is it not?
we have taped up our glass and that was sufficient for cyclone larry almost 5 years ago (which was the scariest thing i have ever been through and this promises to be horribly similar).
and this time we are FAR more organised, better supplied, better warned. and taking it far more seriously.
we've secured everything that could become flying debris outside, short of tearing out 5 acres of garden.
and i have just clipped my herb garden back ruthlessly and i am drying a whole fragrant crop in the dehydrator.
i've got racks and racks in the kitchen and it smells so lovely and it is giving me some busywork to do so i don't run around freaking out.
we will be fine tonight.
they reckon the wind will start midmorning tomorrow.
you kids affected by snow and ice storms, please stay inside and stay safe.
Please take care, our friends in Australia. We are having a winter storm of epic proportions here in the US.
Bandicoot, I was looking at that cyclone warning. I pray that you stay safe and dry!
some photos from our place during the last big cyclone in 2006: http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y246/bandicoot66/just%20larried/
this area lost so many huge trees, it was simply heartbreaking.
Thanks, bandicoot. We are fine -- just a few inches.
The areas of the country that will get the freezing rain will have the big problems.
keeping fingers crossed for you and everyone else. Please check in as soon as you can.
bandicoot I would love to see the link you posted but it doesn't seem to work without a password.
In the meantime, stay safe!
Bandicoot, please give us updates on your situation, if you can!
I remember preparing for a hurricane that fortunately didn't hit. I remember taping up sliding doors with big "Xs" using duct tape. I remember bringing in outdoor furniture but not having the time or energy to bring in all the potted plants and then worrying about them flying around like projectiles. I remember getting lots of bottled water and batteries and flashlights and candles and a solar radio and nonperishable food. I remember how afraid I felt. Not having been through one I don't know how that would feel; but I certainly do know how frightened I was at the prospect and in preparing for it to hit.
It sounds like you are all prepared bandicoot. Our best wishes and prayers go out to you and your family and fellow countryfolk.
we are still 11 hours away from it hitting the coast....and the wind and rain has picked up alarmingly already.
i am frightened. we are all frightened. my inlaws have arrived from cairns. they went through cyclone tracy and lost everything. can you say PTSD?
we are taking further steps in our workshop and placing tonnes of oil drums up against roller doors (they are prone to blowing inwards).
we don't know from which direction the wind will come.
it now looks as though the cyclone will pass just to the south of us, and everyone has heard that it is slightly better to be on the north side.
i expect electrcity will be deliberately cut sometime in the next few hours.
if there is any 3g network left, i'll get online on my phone.
we will live through this....we have no plans for going outside.
Signing off for today but will be thinking of you and hoping for the best. I hope it passes far away from you! Knock on wood.
Let us know how you are okay?
Your poor in laws with PTSD - don't blame them at all! Good luck!
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