Typhoon Larry ,damage ?
 

Hi this is to Pat W. and any other kind Queenslanders that answer our numerous questions. I was out of town in a remote area but heard about Larry. How did you fair where you are? I'm coming to Northern Queensland in June/July should I contact my accommodation ? Or was the damage minimal? Sorry for my cluelessness.

Hi Weasel

Dunk and Bedarra Islands, where guests were evacuated, some way south of Cairns will be closed until at least the end of this month.

Cairns city, its northern beaches, Port Douglas and Daintree areas escaped the worst of the cyclone, with some local flooding and damage from falling trees and there is no damage to resorts and beaches. All reef and Daintree trips out of Cairns and Port Douglas are operating, as is Kuranda Train and Skyrail, there is some difficulty reaching Tableland due to fallen trees, they're working on this now.

Innisfail, some 90km south of Cairns, and nearby small towns and surrounding farming area is devastated, with many homeless and jobless. This area took the brunt of the cyclone which came in as a Category 5, wind speeds over 300kmph. Army is there now for clean-up and government rescue packages in place, although no-one really knows extent of damage financially.

Dear Pat,

Glad you are OK. I believe Innisfall is where we turned of the coastal highway above our adventure at the Tully River Crossing. Did the bridge get washed out? The typhoon has received extensive coverage in the Canadian press. Amazing that no one was killed and so few injured compared to the Katrina debacle.

I understand that another typhoon is heading your way. Good luck to you and Mike and best wishes to everyone in N Queensland who was so welcoming to us.



AndrewDavid

Pat I'm glad to hear your area wasn't too badly hit and there were no lives lost. I had only heard that it was a catagory 5 and I have seen up close the devastation that can occur at this level. Thank you again for all your help and knowledge while planning my trip to your country.

Weasel, there will be no trouble with your accommodation in June/July, you can be sure of that as the clean up is well under way and also going very well and there are truckloads of generators arriving in Innesfail today because they are saying that it will be a few weeks yet before the phone lines are working again.
If the flattening of Darwin and its rebuilding years ago is anything to go by I would be surprised if you see any aftermath of this cyclone at all when you are in North Qld later this year. Should there be any problems still I am sure that your accommodation people will let you know.
The other cyclone is still off the coast but coming quite further south and apart from gales, rain and high seas ( its north east of Fraser Island at the moment) there is not a problem from it and those cyclones which do come down that way are either welcomed because of the rain they bring or they go off and annoy New Zealand as a rain depression. Unless something ontoward happens with it there will not be a problem. Once is gets another 300Klm south it will most probably lessen in intensity because it will be getting into non-tropical waters and colder waters. Once into the Tasman sea it will be just rain.

Hello Andrew, and thanks for your concern - yes the Tully bridge went under as usual in every wet, this time so did a few others. Finally there's a State promise for a better road, not to be completed until 2009. As locals have been screaming for this for years, its felt as a bit of a political knee jerk reaction to come at this time.

LizF has reported the wanderings of Cyclone Wati, now causing heavy seas in mid to southern Queensland with strong gale, but not cyclone warnings from Capricornia Coast (Heron Island) to Coolangatta on Qld/NSW border.

Pat, did you find out how Paronella Park had fared in the storm? Last I read you were trying to get through to them. Found that a most fascinating place, especially with the bats in the trees - sadly, not in the belfreys that we saw the day we visited. I'm pleased to read that Cairns didn't suffer but so sorry for Innisfail and surrounding areas.
Cyclone W is reportedly going to 'annoy' New Zealand's weather, according to the forecast the other night. Unfortunately I had just got home from school, turned the 6:00 pm news on at 6:55 in time to catch the tail-end of the forecast. I think the gist of it was NZ will cop rather a lot of unseasonal rain - ha! ha! we seem to have had more than our fair share of that so far this year.

Hi Dotty, just found out today, phones down there are still out. Garden is shorn, but ruins are still OK, except for a couple of walls which were due to collapse anyway. Debris is expected to be cleared for re-opening next week in time to welcome in a new generation of business - cyclone tourism.