Major Weather
Major Weather on the other side of the globe where today was the autumnal equinox rather than the vernal equinox. Either way, the day and night are of equal length.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11915471/
New cyclone set to strike Australia’s coast
Wati set to roar in as Larry exits; Howard pledges aid to areas already hit
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 8:40 p.m. ET March 20, 2006
CAIRNS, Australia - Forecasters warned that a Category 2 cyclone was heading for Australia's eastern coast on Tuesday just as residents took stock of devastation wreaked by what officials said was the most powerful cyclone to hit the country in three decades.
Cyclone Wati was churning slowly toward northeast Australia and was expected to hit later in the week, Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre forecaster Jeff Callaghan said.
Wati was heading for an area several hundred miles south of the region hammered this week by Cyclone Larry, a Category 5 storm that lashed Australia's eastern coast with winds up to 180 miles per hour.
Hardest hit was Innisfail, a farming city of 8,500 people 60 miles south of the tourist city of Cairns in northeastern Queensland state. By Tuesday the storm was well inland and downgraded to a severe low pressure system.
“It looks like an atomic bomb hit the place,” Innisfail Mayor Neil Clarke told Australian television. “It is severe damage. This is more than a local disaster, this is a national disaster.”
“Everyone here studied Katrina and took a lot of messages away, a lot of lessons at the expense of the poor old Yanks,” Creagh said. “There was absolutely no complacency at the planning level at all, and I think that shows. ... Good planning, a bit of luck — we’ve dodged a bullet.”
Within hours of the storm’s landfall, officials declared a state of emergency, prepared Black Hawk helicopters to run rescue missions and announced cash payouts for victims — $720 for each adult and $290 for each child who lost their home. Prime Minister John Howard indicated more aid was to come.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11915471/
New cyclone set to strike Australia’s coast
Wati set to roar in as Larry exits; Howard pledges aid to areas already hit
MSNBC News Services
Updated: 8:40 p.m. ET March 20, 2006
CAIRNS, Australia - Forecasters warned that a Category 2 cyclone was heading for Australia's eastern coast on Tuesday just as residents took stock of devastation wreaked by what officials said was the most powerful cyclone to hit the country in three decades.
Cyclone Wati was churning slowly toward northeast Australia and was expected to hit later in the week, Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre forecaster Jeff Callaghan said.
Wati was heading for an area several hundred miles south of the region hammered this week by Cyclone Larry, a Category 5 storm that lashed Australia's eastern coast with winds up to 180 miles per hour.
Hardest hit was Innisfail, a farming city of 8,500 people 60 miles south of the tourist city of Cairns in northeastern Queensland state. By Tuesday the storm was well inland and downgraded to a severe low pressure system.
“It looks like an atomic bomb hit the place,” Innisfail Mayor Neil Clarke told Australian television. “It is severe damage. This is more than a local disaster, this is a national disaster.”
“Everyone here studied Katrina and took a lot of messages away, a lot of lessons at the expense of the poor old Yanks,” Creagh said. “There was absolutely no complacency at the planning level at all, and I think that shows. ... Good planning, a bit of luck — we’ve dodged a bullet.”
Within hours of the storm’s landfall, officials declared a state of emergency, prepared Black Hawk helicopters to run rescue missions and announced cash payouts for victims — $720 for each adult and $290 for each child who lost their home. Prime Minister John Howard indicated more aid was to come.
.....
posted by VickeB | 8:55 PM
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