Cyclone Ita

I was going to write on a different subject today but the cyclone is very close and is a big one, category 5.We were watching Ellen while having lunch and Channel nine went to an ad break in the middle of an interview of Ellen's. Bad form, I thought or just bad editing but they broke for a cyclone warning update. The Premier of Queensland had a warning and instructions for people who lived in the area. Cooktown to Cairns.

He spoke for several minutes on what they could expect and the things that they should be doing and have in preparation,. by his side was a woman doing signing, this seems to be quite usual these days. One of the things that he mentioned was taking personal papers with them if they needed to evacuate, he went on to say that sometimes these things get overlooked if people need to move elsewhere within a short time frame.

The cyclone is due to hit the coastline at around 10 pm tonight so now was the time to prepare and move before the winds and rain became stronger.

We were in Townsville a few years ago when a cyclone was coming and while there were updates, people were not ready for it as they can be now. I went to work as usual the day before, Government job, and was told to go home and prep the house and yard for the disaster that was about to hit. I remember driving back home, it was only about eight kilometres away, the branches were being blown on to the roads and the cyclone was still a day away. It turned eerie in the afternoon, no birds, the sky was very dark and at times no winds then it would blow again. That cyclone hit in the early hours of the following at Ayr about fifty kms further down the coast. A wooden church was picked by the winds and moved about 200 metres away, there was only minor damage done to it, but quite a bit of damage elsewhere and a few people were injured.

I hope that everyone stays safe and there is no or only minor injuries this time, we can only hope that it may blow itself out or at least be downgraded..