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Australia braces for Cyclone Ingrid
Australia's north-eastern tip battened down for the arrival of Cyclone Ingrid, which despite weakening over the last 24 hours remains potentially the worst storm to threaten in 30 years, experts say.
The Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Brisbane said the cyclone, now downgraded to category four, was about 220 kilometres (140 miles) north north-east of Cooktown in the eastern state of Queensland and moving westward at seven kilometres (4.4 miles) an hour.
The cyclone was packing destructive winds of up to 280 kilometres (175 miles) near its centre, and the warning centre said gales were expected between Cape Grenville and Cooktown on Wednesday with destructive winds forecast between Coen and Cape Flattery later in the day.
Some residents in the likely path of the storm have evacuated their homes while others have been securing homes as well as they can by removing or anchoring all objects that could become airborne.
The potential impact of the cyclone had been worsened by predicted king tides, which could inundate low-lying areas.
A spokeswoman for the Cape Flattery Silica Mine, located directly in the path of the storm, said most of the workers were evacuated on Tuesday.
"We've got gale-force winds here and we've already had a big clean-up to make sure there's nothing that can fly around," she said. "We got most of the workers out yesterday, but there are 29 of us still here and we'll just sit it out."
The Cooktown Shire Council and the Queensland Counter Disaster and Rescue Service were both holding emergency meetings to discuss responses.
Emergency workers along the coast were busy preparing sandbag defenses against the seawater.
At Cooktown airport, weather observer Terry Dukes said cyclones were a fact of life in Australia's tropical north and everyone was as prepared as they could be.
"We've all stocked up our food and water and we are ready," he said.
"We've done our clean-ups and we just have to wait and see what happens."
The Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre said there was a possibility Ingrid could again intensify to category five, but as a category four it remained as big a threat as Cyclone Tracy, which devastated the northern port of Darwin 30 years ago. |
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