Record wave height of 9.5 meters recorded off Queensland coast
10.16pm There’s been record wave height – 9.5m – this afternoon off Townsville. “This is the highest that has ever been recorded since measurements began in 1975,” Premier Anna Bligh said. Similarly in Cardwell we are planning for a storm surge of over 7m over the high tide mark, Lucinda Beach 4m and at Cairns 2.6m.” 10.50pm Police report a person at Innisfail has called them, asking to evacuate. Emergency workers cannot respond, other than give advice on sheltering, police say. “These are not conditions in which we can send out emergency workers,” Premier Anna Bligh said this evening. “These are not conditions where you can put up a helicopter to do a winch rescue. All of that is now beyond the realm of possibility.” 11.39pm More on the call to police for evacuation assistance: Six people in their 60s at Port Hinchinbrook in a storm surge area made the call, and have been given telephone support. 12.19am A report of roofs coming off on The Strand in Townsville, and in Cairns there’s are report of wind picking up, “whipping through the city with a shriek”. Gulliver resident Carly Lubicz says: “The rain is pelting and, while we can’t go outside, trees are leaning over as they’re whipped by the wind.’ 12.31am Cyclone Yasi is hitting the north Queensland town of Tully with full force, with locals already saying the storm is worse than Cyclone Larry which devastated the region in 2006. Cassowary Coast councillor Ross Sorbello said his house was shaking under the force of winds of up to 290km/h. “We’re already at a stage where it’s worse than it was during Larry. I don’t remember the house shaking like that last time,” he said. 12.34am The major evacuation centre in Cairns has lost power. The power went out about just over an hour ago, throwing blackness over the 2500 evacuees holed up in the Stockland Shopping Centre in Earlville (pictured below) after early morning evacuations. 12.43am Cassowary Coast councillor Ross Sorbello said his house was shaking under the force of winds of up to 290km/h. “We’re already at a stage where it’s worse than it was during Larry. I don’t remember the house shaking like that last time,” he told AAP. “The wind and rain outside are howling, it’s a horrible sound.” 12.50am More than 100 employees on Dunk Island, just a few kilometres off the coast of Mission Beach, are bunkered down in a concrete wing of a staff accommodation block waiting for Cyclone Yasi to pass. They had lost mobile phone communication but the resort was equipped with satellite phones and generators. 2.10am Townsville authorities say there is no way of knowing how many homes will be inundated as a result of an expected record storm surge as cyclone Yasi belts the north Queensland coast. A wave height of 9.5 metres had been recorded at the city, almost three metres above the expected level, but authorities will not be able to determine the effects of the storm surge until after the cyclone has passed.
Thanks for the updates…