Day 86 / 2017 - Our Cyclone Update

Currently the Cyclone is not predicted to hit anywhere near the Cairns area, instead crossing the coast over the town of Home Hill, about 350 Km south of us. It is expected to be a category 4 and will travel about 300 km inland dumping a huge volume of rain as it goes.

Life up here, even with the threat of a cyclone goes on as normal. I can't speak for the people in the direct line of fire, but the residents, especially those have been through it before seem to us, concerned but not alarmed. They have their management plans in place, and at the appropriate time, do what they need to do to protect their families and community, while going about it with an air of calm. I think the only people who go into panic mode is the media, they get all excited, really talking up the danger over a drawn out period. I guess this sells the story.

When it was reported a cyclone had a high chance of forming, the residents just watched and waited. They know the unpredicability of cyclones and have learned to read the signs and know the appropriate time to act, they take it seriously but calmly. We watched with great interest the news reports on the TV by the commercial channels, who seem to have more reporters on the ground than emergency services, give a blow by blow description. They love to use language like Barrelling towards... smashing into... and wide spread distruction... I don't want to diminish the seriousness of a cyclone but can't help think the media are the hype-it-up specialist, just to keep us all glued to the tele. I guess the media does have a role to play and are after all, another source of broadcasting the message out, we just have to accept they deliver it like a soap opera.

For us here the weather is quite mild and we are following the local's mantra, just wait and see what will happen. At the moment we feel quite safe but a little frustrated as we can't get going, "hurry up and wait" applies here. Our main concern now is the aftermath, what will the roads be like immediately following the cyclone. Hundreds of millimetres of rain will be dumped in a very short period of time, causing flash flooding. Strong winds will bring down trees, all this will most likely block roads. Water over the road will clear reasonably quickly but damaged or trees across roads take longer to fix. We may have to revise our route and take a longer way around. Our intended route is through Charters Towers then follow the Finders Highway to Hughenden then down to Winton, Longreach and Barcaldine. This also happens to be a similar path the Cyclone is predicted to take. There is a great website provided by the Queensland government which gives up to date (as possible), the road conditions within the state. We will keep an eye on this website when planning our escape. (https://qldtraffic.qld.gov.au/)

Our thoughs go out to all those people who will directly affected by the cyclone and urge them to please stay safe.