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14/04/12 ITA MONSTER CYCLONE APPROACHES COOKTOWN CATEGORY FIVE FOOTAGE
- Published_at:2014-04-11
- Category:News & Politics
- Channel:ANIMAX2013
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- description: 2014/04/12 Cyclone Ita Cooktown's first in 65 years . COOKTOWN mayor Peter Scott has warned that the historic north Queensland hamlet faces a wipeout from maximum-strength Cyclone Ita. The category five storm, with maximum winds approaching 300km/h, is advancing towards the coast and an anticipated landfall north of Cooktown late tonight. Cooktown was in lockdown early this afternoon as winds intensified and hundreds of locals took cover in cyclone shelters. At a local disaster group briefing, Mr Scott said the town of 2300 may never be the same. "Cooktown tomorrow, as we know it today, will not be the same tomorrow,'' he warned. Premier Campbell Newman said 9000 people were in the path of the cyclone, many of them in indigenous communities dotted along the thinly-populated coast. In Cooktown, residents with properties built before 1985 were told they may not be able to withstand the cyclone's impact, and were warned to move to cyclone shelters. James Cook University cyclone impact expert David Henderson said Cooktown had a mix of old and new homes and buildings, and there was no way of telling how they would stand up. The cyclone's destructive capacity would depend on how close the eye passed to a community and the local topography. While it's showing no sign of weakening, Cyclone Ita has slowed in the last few hours and is expected to make landfall between Cooktown and Cape Melville at around midnight. Carrying the highest possible cyclone rating, Ita is bringing with it very destructive winds of up to 300km/h at its core, while gales of 200km/h extend from the centre. Winds were strengthening early this afternoon. "There will certainly be gales, but also gusts up to 125km/h developing from early in the afternoon, and then in the direct path of the cyclone they will be potentially up to 300km/h,'' said Bureau of Meteorology weather services manager Grahame Reader. "The message is, from the meteorological side of things, you'd want to be out of harm's way by midday.'' By 10am (AEST) the cyclone was about 205km northeast of Cooktown, where locals are awaiting the most severe system that's approached the Queensland coast since the destructive Cyclone Yasi in 2011. Cooktown residents wearing wet weather gear dashed for supplies as strong winds and heavy rain drenched the town. Locals were urged to make final preparations before noon, when gale force winds were dut to hit and the town's cyclone shelter was due to close its doors. "The big message is that people need to stay indoors once those strong winds start," said Mr Scott. Cooktown, north of the World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park, was last battered by a cyclone in February 1949. "I urge people who are evacuating to make sure they grab all their ... vital personal effects: things like passports, birth certificates," Mr Newman told ABC TV. "That they charge their mobile phone, they switch off the applications, that they take medications, food and water and make sure that they can look after themselves for a few days in the place they're seeking refuge.'' TRACKING: Bureau of Meteorology track map A cyclone warning is current from Lockhart River to Innisfail including Cooktown, Port Douglas and Cairns, and extending inland to areas including Kalinga, Palmerville, Mareeba and Chillagoe. In Cairns, to the south, the cyclone shelter was not yet in use, but could be needed in coming days, Mayor Bob Manning said. "People are much, much better staying in their own homes unless they're on beachfront perhaps,'' he said. "If there is any likelihood of a tidal surge, we'll know more about that as the day moves along.'' Senior forecaster Vikash Prasad says Cyclone Ita poses a serious threat to coastal communities. Cooktown resident Ivan Juff says locals are nervous but he has decided to stay put. "I've seen what Cyclone Larry and all those did, and this is up there with them ... (but) I live here. I'm not going anywhere else,'' he told the ABC. ( Cape Melville ) 2014/04/11 140412
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