After the floods (even if some of the flooding in Brisbane was due to poor operation of the Wivenhoe Dam), Queensland faces a cyclone due to cross the coast today and another larger cyclone which could hit on Thursday.
An infra-red image shows Cyclone Anthony bearing down on the Queensland coast, with a large tropical depression off Vanuatu expected to develop into another, more devastating cyclone. Photo: US National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service
The two cyclones bearing down on the Queensland coast could be a case of “David and Goliath”, with the second system expected to be bigger and more devastating, Premier Anna Bligh said today.
Cyclone Anthony intensified to a category-two system just before 2pm (local time) today and is expected to cross the coast between Ayr and Bowen, in north Queensland, late tonight. …….
Cyclone Anthony was at 5pm located 255 kilometres east of Townsville and 125 kilometres northeast of Bowen, with a warning zone stretching along the coast from Lucinda to Sarina, the Bureau of Meteorology said. The bureau tonight warned of destructive wind gusts up to 130km/h and abnormally high tides between Ayr and Bowen, with large waves likely along the beachfront between Townsville and Sarina. It said heavy rainfall and flooding was developing about the coast near and to the south of the cyclone, extending as far south as Sarina. Gales up to 100km/h were battering Hamilton Island late this afternoon.
However, the bureau is more worried about Cyclone Yasi, lurking near Vanuatu, which could potentially cross the Queensland coast on Thursday morning. The meteorological centre in Fiji this afternoon upgraded the low-pressure system to a category-one cyclone, which was moving west at 13km/h and intensifying.
The prospect of two cyclones crossing the Queensland coast within four days of each other comes after three quarters of the state was recently declared a disaster zone in the wake of devastating flooding. ……. Ms Bligh today described the two cyclones as “David and Goliath”, with Cyclone Anthony expected to be “quite smaller than the second event”.
But Ms Bligh said Anthony should not be underestimated, with wind gusts of more than 120km/h likely and damage expected.
The k2p blog 