Pic 242

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“Being able to break security doesn’t make you a hacker any more than being able to hot wire cars makes you an automotive engineer.” – Eric Raymond

Tropical Cyclone Hamish summary

TC Hamish has finally disipated into a low so I thought I’d post links to all the articles in chronological order:

Updates and observations

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Here we go again

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 01

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 02

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 03

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 04

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 05

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 06

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 07

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 08

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 09

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 10

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 11

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 12

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 13

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 14

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 15

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 16

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 17

Tropical Cyclone Hamish – Update 18

Related articles and photographs

Ingham – Cyclone Ellie/Flood Damage

ABC: Nth Qld on high alert as Hamish approaches Cat 5

Invisible Cyclone Hamish

Cyclone Hamish Satellite Image via US Navy

Post-Cyclonic Sunset

Post-Cyclonic Sunset, Part Deux

Ingham – Cyclone Ellie/Flood Damage

Over the last few days we’ve been visiting Ingham and the hinterlands for the first time since Cyclone Ellie and the massive rainfall that followed. The cane train tracks are already being repaired:

Broken Railway 00

Broken Railway 01

Broken Railway 02

Broken Railway 03

Broken Railway 04

You can imagine the flow of flood water from the damage caused to the trees along the river banks. In some places it was at least 10 metres above the usual river levels.

Broken Trees 00

Broken Trees 01

Road damage seemed to be fairly minor in most areas but in some places it was extreme:

Hole In The Road

Most of the National Parks in this area are still closed while damage is repaired. Hopefully Cyclone Hamish will not add too much more but as a lot of the ground is still saturated it won’t take much to start some serious flooding again.

More Cyclone Hamish updates.

Cyclone Ellie Track Map via the ABC

Cyclone Ellie Track Map via the ABC

This is just a screen grab of the ABC Cyclone Ellie Track Map. Clicky, zoomy, interactive fun and games. The news outlets said it went over Mission Beach. Mission Beach, my arse.

I’ll keep the screen grab here for posterity in case the ABC ever loses the interactive version.

Here Comes The Flood

Lord, here comes the flood
We’ll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
in any still alive
It’ll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you’re running dry.

Here Comes The Flood – Peter Gabriel

Here Comes The Flood 00

Here Comes The Flood 01

Here Comes The Flood 02

Here Comes The Flood 03

Here Comes The Flood 04

Here Comes The Flood 05

Here Comes The Flood 06

Here Comes The Flood 07

Here Comes The Flood 08

Here Comes The Flood 09

Cyclone Ellie – Meh

Well that was a bit of a damp squib. No, not even damp because there was hardly any rain accompanying the cyclone. The garden clear-up took less than an hour and that was mainly placing potted plants back to where they usually reside (they had spent the night indoors). The big storm of a few days ago was both windier and wetter.

Cyclone Ellie Aftermath 00

Cyclone Ellie Aftermath 01

Whether the road from the outside world is open to small cars is yet to be seen.

Cyclone Ellie – Game Over

01:35

The BoM released a bulletin at 01:28 stating that TC Ellie is now an ex-cyclone. It has ceased to be.

Cyclone Ellie Projected Track Map

They said:

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie crossed the coast near Mission Beach at around midnight Sunday, and is expected to be slow moving and remain over land today while weakening further. Winds around the centre of the cyclone have now weakened below gale force, so the Tropical Cyclone Warning for this system has been cancelled. Heavy rainfall is likely to develop in coastal and adjacent inland parts between Innisfail and Mackay. A seperate Severe Weather Warning has been issued for this. No further Tropical Cyclone Advices will be issued unless the situation changes.

So that’s what all the noise was at midnight All we need now is a couple of days without rain and life will return to normal. Expect this photoblog to do the same tomorrow.

Cyclone Ellie – Update 06

00:30

The wind has dropped considerably. In the absence of any other news I’ll add a bit of local information.

One place that may get hit by Ellie is Lucinda, a small port with the world’s largest bulk sugar loading facility  – according to Wikipedia – a 6km long jetty.

Lucinda Sugar Pier

Also at Lucinda is a WWII memorial to a USAAF bomber crew that crashed their plane into Hinchinbrook Island.

WWII Memorial

Close up of the memorial plaque.

WWII Memorial

Cyclone Ellie – Update 05

23:20

Miss Ellie is a little indecisive. She has now moved north again and will be running parallel with Rockingham Bay – that’s us – before heading down towards Cardwell.

Cyclone Ellie Projected Track Map

I’m sure I’m tempting fate here but the power and phones are still working. That may change as Ellie gets closer and things start falling over. If we have a connection to the outside world I’ll keep posting during the night. However, there will be no more live photographs until morning…wind during the night doesn’t make for good photographs.

By the way, these track maps are copyright of Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology. The maps change on their site so I’m keeping them here for posterity.

Cyclone Ellie – Update 04

22:20

The wind is still howling and it’s very reminiscent of Cyclone Larry. The big difference this time is that there hasn’t been the massive pressure drop that came late the day before Larry. The estimated current pressure at the centre of Ellie is 991 hectoPascals and Larry was 959.3 at its lowest. There’s no feeling of pressure differential that makes you want to swallow and pop your ears as in a plane descent. Also missing was the stillness and lack of sound of wildlife that came the day before Larry. In short, there is no trepidation and the worry of the next Big One. All is cool.

A few photographs from the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Larry.

Cyclone Larry Aftermath 00

Cyclone Larry 01

Cyclone Larry Aftermath 02

Cyclone Larry Aftermath 03

Cyclone Ellie – Update 03

Cyclone Ellie Projected Track Map

21:00

It seems we’re back to a projected landfall at 7am again.

The wind here is now considerably higher than a few hours ago and we’ve already seen fallen trees. These are likely to be have had their roots weakened by the saturated ground and Cyclone Larry. Everything at the house is battened down so the likelyhood of flying wheelie bins is somewhat lessened.

River levels seemed to have stabilised – the Tully River at Euramo is almost eight metres above normal levels but still below the Bruce Highway.

It could be an interesting night.

Cyclone Ellie – Update 02

Cyclone Ellie Projected Track Map

17:44

Things have changed yet again. Ellie is still moving south but has slowed down so much that projected landfall is now 4pm Monday instead of 9am. If the predictions are correct it will be over the same small area of Hinchinbrook Island, Cardwell and Lucinda for 24 hours. Ouch.

Cyclone Ellie – Update 01

The big problem with predicting cyclone tracks is that they tend to be unpredictable. Ellie’s forecasted coast crossing is now further south again:

Cyclone Ellie Projected Track Map

The rain is increasing as I write and the rest of Australia is still cut off from us due to flooding on the roads:

Flooding 03

Flooding 04

The sky gives some indication of approaching conditions:

Brooding Sky

Beautiful Hinchinbrook Island…er, somewhere out there.

Hinchinbrook Island