Level 5 Cyclone Yasi to hit north Queensland, Australia, 2 Feb 2011

[Sooner Fan#1]

Christie, I heard about the cyclone....Are you guys ok? Let me know, I'm worried about you guys! Please let me know.

Gayle Davis!

my email address is tcreekgayle@ allegience.tv

 

[mommy23]

Absolutley amazing pictures! Hope you can all stay dry, and not burn! So scary. Prayers for all of you :seeya:

 

[Nova]

Flakes, et all, a huge THANK YOU and two questions:

Don't typhoons more typically move from west to east in the Southern Hemisphere? Or is it just that they usually spin in the opposite direction from cyclones in the Northern Hemisphere?

Also, my favorite movie is Muriel's Wedding, so my entire knowledge of Queensland comes with the fictional town of Porpoise Spit. In the film, Muriel's family home is up on stilts and I notice the same is true of the homes in some of Flake's photos. I've seen the same thing in Hawaii.

Is this a precaution against flooding? Insects? What? I grew up in South Florida, which is only a few miles north of the tropics, but our houses sat on the ground...

 

[Nova]

Well, fine, then, make me do my own research!

http://library.thinkquest.org/3741/facts.htm



It appears that while hurricanes/typhoons tend to rotate in opposite directions north and south of the equator, in both cases they tend to move from east to west. I assume the latter has something to do with the rotation of the earth (which is the same, obviously, north and south).

 

[Flakes]

Hi Nova, good question. My understanding is based on what I posted in the first post in this thread. I'll repost below. Note the bold.

What is the difference between a tropical cyclone, a hurricane and a typhoon?

In the southern hemisphere the name “tropical cyclones” is used and in the Northern Hemisphere, they are called “hurricanes”.

Both hurricanes and typhoons are tropical cyclones. A hurricane is a severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea, traveling north, northwest, or northeast from its point of origin, and usually involving heavy rains.

Typhoon is applied to intense tropical cyclones, which occur in the western Pacific Ocean. In Australia the terms "Tropical Cyclone" and "Severe Tropical Cyclone" are used.

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/help/article.jsp?id=71

Thing is we have been hit by cyclones from almost all directions (except below which is Antarctica, so when we get blasted from there it generally brings great snow to our ski resorts and miserable rain everywhere else :laugh: (I'm a skier ... obviously!). Bet none of you realised we have snow in surf-beach-loving-Australia!

In the past 2 weeks we've had cyclones hit Perth, Western Australia (which then had bushfires a week alter), plus 2 cyclones that hit the northern Queensland area. You can see the small first cyclone that preceded Yasi in the animation in my first post of this thread. It was pretty mild, though it combined with Yasi to cause all the flooding down the east coast of the continent. To put it in perspective, if you look at the maps of the USA and Australia superimposed posted earlier, Yasi affected the entire country ... so if she had hit the US she would have affected the entire country too!. This was just MASSIVE! Lucky we only have about 23 million people in the entire country!

Australia learned the hard way about dealing with nature's fierce temper. In 1974 on Christmas eve, our northern-most capital, Darwin (Northern Territory) was hit by Cyclone Tracy. Tracy formed over the the Arafura Sea, thn moved southwards to Darwin. 80% of houses were flattened and over 70% of buildings were destroyed. More than 41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of Darwin were left homeless. 71 people died. Darwin looked like this:

And in true form this was the attitude:

Crazy Aussies! Always smiling!

So after the devastation of an entire capital city, Australia learned that we needed to design buildings, especially houses in a fashion that could withstand not only the grueling heat and rain, but also cyclones. New building regulations were drafted.

Northern Qld and Northern Territory are north of the Tropic of Capricorn - ie they're humid, tropical belts with enormous flooding rains in the summer wet season. For this reason, houses are raised on platforms and stilts to allow the heat to flow underneath the floor, and have large verandahs to provide shade. In Qld these houses are spectacularly beautiful, and are called "Queenslanders":

New houses have strong foundations and supports. In the NT the underneath is usually filled in with besa bricks, but still with sections open to allow for the breeze.

In my opinion, the improvements in construction have made all the difference this time around. Yasi was enormous - like a bunch of Tracys in a cluster with their arms linked, and yet she didn't have anywhere near the impact. It is such a relief!

I really appreciate (on behalf of my fellow Aussies) how you guys are so supportive through this. It's been a crazy couple of weeks I have to tell you! Glad you like the pics

 

[Nova]

That building is quite a bit grander than the Heslop residence in Muriel's Wedding, but I see it's the same principle.

 

[drip~drop]

Hi Nova, good question. My understanding is based on what I posted in the first post in this thread. I'll repost below. Note the bold.


http://www.weatherzone.com.au/help/article.jsp?id=71

Thing is we have been hit by cyclones from almost all directions (except below which is Antarctica, so when we get blasted from there it generally brings great snow to our ski resorts and miserable rain everywhere else :laugh: (I'm a skier ... obviously!). Bet none of you realised we have snow in surf-beach-loving-Australia!

In the past 2 weeks we've had cyclones hit Perth, Western Australia (which then had bushfires a week alter), plus 2 cyclones that hit the northern Queensland area. You can see the small first cyclone that preceded Yasi in the animation in my first post of this thread. It was pretty mild, though it combined with Yasi to cause all the flooding down the east coast of the continent. To put it in perspective, if you look at the maps of the USA and Australia superimposed posted earlier, Yasi affected the entire country ... so if she had hit the US she would have affected the entire country too!. This was just MASSIVE! Lucky we only have about 23 million people in the entire country!

Australia learned the hard way about dealing with nature's fierce temper. In 1974 on Christmas eve, our northern-most capital, Darwin (Northern Territory) was hit by Cyclone Tracy. Tracy formed over the the Arafura Sea, thn moved southwards to Darwin. 80% of houses were flattened and over 70% of buildings were destroyed. More than 41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of Darwin were left homeless. 71 people died. Darwin looked like this:

And in true form this was the attitude:

Crazy Aussies! Always smiling!

So after the devastation of an entire capital city, Australia learned that we needed to design buildings, especially houses in a fashion that could withstand not only the grueling heat and rain, but also cyclones. New building regulations were drafted.

Northern Qld and Northern Territory are north of the Tropic of Capricorn - ie they're humid, tropical belts with enormous flooding rains in the summer wet season. For this reason, houses are raised on platforms and stilts to allow the heat to flow underneath the floor, and have large verandahs to provide shade. In Qld these houses are spectacularly beautiful, and are called "Queenslanders":

New houses have strong foundations and supports. In the NT the underneath is usually filled in with besa bricks, but still with sections open to allow for the breeze.

In my opinion, the improvements in construction have made all the difference this time around. Yasi was enormous - like a bunch of Tracys in a cluster with their arms linked, and yet she didn't have anywhere near the impact. It is such a relief!

I really appreciate (on behalf of my fellow Aussies) how you guys are so supportive through this. It's been a crazy couple of weeks I have to tell you! Glad you like the pics

What a beautiful home, I hope it stays safe!

ETA: is all that damage from Yasi?Oh my!

 

[Nova]

What a beautiful home, I hope it stays safe!

ETA: is all that damage from Yasi?Oh my!

No, I believe the photo is from a typhoon that hit Darwin in the 1970s. Fades is saying Queensland fared much better due to improved building codes.

 

[Flakes]

Correct, Nove Those pics of devastation in the latest post are all of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in 1974. The pic at the bottom of that post was showing what a "Queenslander" looks like (as someone was asking about the houses being on stilts). These homes are typical in Queensland - I obviously picked a lovely one to post, but there are MANY like this, both new and old.

You are correct – improved construction regulations meant that Yasi was not as devastating to houses and buildings as Tracy was, even though she was countless times bigger.

Pics of wreckage in the earlier posts are from Cyclone Yasi a week ago – the post with the pics of yachts and boats up on top of each other, trees uprooted, houses flattened, etc.

The pic at the bottom of that post, of the flooded street with water up to the cars' bonnets is Melbourne after Cyclone Yasi. Melbourne is 2800km (1750miles) directly south of Mission Beach where the heart of Yasi hit. That's about 34 hours drive. The flash flooding from Yasi badly affected Melbourne and much other southern land. It gives an idea of how huge she was.