Spare a thought...

[Sheiky]

Jan - no photography for me tonight. But I'm thinking of chasing a few shots tomorrow night. Will check out the forecast first. If there's going to be 300km/h winds like over east then I might just sit at home with a beer and enjoy the show. No point putting yourself at risk, all your doing then is risking somebody else' life if you need help.

Good idea Ben. I just watched/listened to the 24h ABC News 24 Livefeed for about 45mins and I now have a bit of an idea of the size and specifics of the storm.


If I used Google Maps correctly, the cyclone has a diameter of almost 1000km! [:|] It's enormous. Indeed, don't put yourself and the people around you in danger for a photo. I don't know exactly where you are in Australia, but I was curious about Steve U's location and I think he's not in the dangerzone(1500km from the core). Let's hope I got that right.

I just read about the snow storms over your way, gees that's horrible as well. Hope everyone stays safe.

Indeed, and hopefully the violence in Egypt will calm down as well. I saw some footage and it looks like medieval warfare around there. People with whips charging with horses and camels.

We're actually shutting down the mine as of tomorrow night until the cyclone goes through. That's a very big deal for us, the price of copper at the london metal exchange has actually risen by over $150/t in the last 24 hours since the world found out we're shutting down.

We don't use a lot of copper where I work, but my boss follows the prices and he told me today []

Here in the Netherlands we have trouble when we have 10cm of snow

We got about 20 cm (8") here in Boston yesterday, bringing us to ~2
meters of snow so far this season...and we've had about 3 days since the
snow started that the temperatures edged above freezing, meaning no
melting and huge piles of snow everywhere, with nowhere to put it. It's
snowing outside right now - I drove into work over ~ 4 cm of snow on
the streets. Of course, I'll take the snow over the ice and freezing
rain we'll be getting by this afternoon.

I think we had 50cm this season so far at max. The worst problems were traffic-problems and slippery sidewalks --> injured people. Still, no match at all with the massive storms and snowproblems elsewhere.


Luckily this cyclone and those snowstorms are mostly predictable.


Take care people.

[Steve U]

Well the winds hit at about 175mph and it must have been a terrifynig ordeal for those that went through it. Initial reports are better than expected. Significant damage but if a cyclone was to cross anywhere the people who live up north are more used to it that anyone. The buildings have been built to take it power is cut and there are a lot of missing roofs but we were ready for this one.


Not a fan of her politics, but our state Premier has done an incredible job of mobilising emergency services and communication has been extensive.


This morning there are news reporters being followed by camera men, holding their iphones and skyping direct to live TV, impressive even if it is a bit scratchy.


With daylight more details will emerge.


Cheers,


Steve

[MattG]

Stay safe everyone!

[Kayaker72]

winds hit at about 175mph

That is a monster. I share Matthew's and others sentiments--stay safe.

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Everybody take care and stay safe!...


Greeting from from Sunny Warmy Southern California


Nate,

[erno james]

Steve U, we need you to become this sites

[btaylor]

Well,

The eye of the cyclone hit a bit further south than
initially expected. A lot of towns were evacuated but in great news
there are no reports of fatalities. I guess Queenslanders have been
through cyclones before so they are aware of what to expect but nobody
knew what to expect with this one due to its size.

The storm surge on the coast produced waves up to 9m! That's incredible.

I just did a search on the cyclone that is
about to hit and the lead to the story was your copper mine shutting
down. Wow, 300,000 tons a year. I guess I have no reference point
other than that is a lot of pennies.

Well that's 300,000
tonnes of copper anode a year - refined to around 99% purity. Last year
we pulled just over 6.1 million tonnes of ore at around 2.8% copper
average up the shaft. But yes it's a huge opportunity cost to the
company shutting down for 24 hours - it very rarely happens. We are a
major supplier to the world market and have a pretty strong influence on
the old supply/demand curve.

Not a fan of her politics, but our state
Premier has done an incredible job of mobilising emergency services and
communication has been extensive.

I agree 100% with you
Steve. I haven't always been a big supporter of Anna Bligh but the way
she has handled both the floods and this cyclone has been excellent. I
think the proactive nature of her handling this has potentially saved a
lot of lives. She's definitely shown a human side you don't often too
with politicians. Much better than the robot we've got running the
country.


I just watched an interview with a banana farmer in Tully on the news. He has just lost his entire crop for the second time since cyclone Larry in 2006. His roof has been ripped off his house and there's pretty much crap everywhere. He was sitting there drinking a beer with a mate and his wife having a laugh. When the reporter asked how it was last night his response was "Bloody windy ahahaahh, at least now it'll be easier to put that skylight in I've been avoiding for the last month eh!" Kind of epitomises the Australian spirit. I guess we're all larrakins at heart.


Well I'm off to start tying down the outdoor furniture, they expect it to hit us as a Category 1 or 2 cyclone at 8 pm. Shouldn't be too bad, upward of 150km/h winds are predicted but the rain following will be the worst part. There's a river between myself and my work, maybe I'll get a couple of days off if I can't get there!


Take care,


Ben.


P.S Jan I agree the riots in Egypt are just shocking. I was due to head to Jordan for work in a month's time but I don't see that happening now.

[Sheiky]

I just watched an interview with a banana farmer in Tully on the news. He has just lost his entire crop for the second time since cyclone Larry in 2006. His roof has been ripped off his house and there's pretty much crap everywhere. He was sitting there drinking a beer with a mate and his wife having a laugh. When the reporter asked how it was last night his response was "Bloody windy ahahaahh, at least now it'll be easier to put that skylight in I've been avoiding for the last month eh!" Kind of epitomises the Australian spirit. I guess we're all larrakins at heart.

Haha that's the same guy I listened to when I watched the Livefeed. It was still night back then, so there was no footage nor journalism, but I'm pretty sure it's the same man. He just rebuild his shed with all his tractors and machines and the roof collapsed onto it...but still, he could laugh about it and was positive. Amazing!

ell I'm off to start tying down the outdoor furniture, they expect it to hit us as a Category 1 or 2 cyclone at 8 pm. Shouldn't be too bad, upward of 150km/h winds are predicted but the rain following will be the worst part. There's a river between myself and my work, maybe I'll get a couple of days off if I can't get there!

Hmmm, to put everything into some perspective. Currently we have "stormy" weather here in the Netherlands. The main airfield: Schiphol deals with major delays and cancellations. Very little damage to houses etc, but fallen branches etc are present. Even in our backyard, and we're living more inland. To put a number to it, they are talking to wind gusts of about 85-90km/h. If this kind of wnd has a "destructive" effect, imagine what 300km/h must be like. Ouch! It's good to hear that it all worked out pretty well giving the circumstances in Australia, but man that must have been a storm!

P.S Jan I agree the riots in Egypt are just shocking. I was due to head to Jordan for work in a month's time but I don't see that happening now.

I'm not sure how it will work out. I believe it's relatively calm at this moment, but it's still very unstable. I don't about Jordan, but it's not really close to Egypt so you might be alright. However it seems like it's unstable in more countries in Northern Africa at this moment. We'll see. If it's safe, it sounds like a nice place to go to for business.


Good luck crossing the river Ben []

[bob williams]

Ben, Steve, I am assuming the worst of the storm is now past, but the news says lots of people without power, thought maybe thats the reason for no update.--hope all is well with you two and your friends and family. Let us know how you weathered the storm. As for here, still well below freezing, we hit 17 below with windchill of 30 below in the valley--mountains had windchills of 50 below (in new Mexico), 30,000 people without gas in New Mexico (JUST ONE WEEK AFTER THEY REQUESTED A RATE HIKE!!!) I can