We arrived home last night after a visit to family in Mackay. While there we experienced preparations for a cyclone with windows being taped, all outdoor furniture moved inside, anything that could be blown away collected and put in the garage. The children looked dab hands at the preparations carrying all their outdoor toys to safety. The cyclone (Anthony) didn't hit Mackay directly, but the town and surrounding areas received around 300mls of rain overnight.
Cyclone Anthony can be seen just hitting the coast of Australia and behind it the advancing Cyclone Yasi which is due to reach landfall sometime tonight. As can be seen by this satellite image, this is a monster of a storm. It has been categorized as a level 5 cyclone which makes this one not only much larger than Cyclone Tracy which hit Darwin in the 1970's, but a cyclone of greater intensity. It is expected that winds will reach over 300kmh at the centre of the storm.
Tens of thousand of folk are fleeing homes which are in low-lying areas.
I spoke to Janet this morning and she said that they did try to get flights out but, as you can imagine, all flights were fully booked.
The cyclone seems to be heading towards Cairns which is north of Mackay so, hopefully the family will be fine.
On a 'calmer' note, some photos of our visit.
A beautiful Sunbird honeyeater on a ginger plant.
More of the beautiful ginger plant.
playin' in the rain...and the family...
