AAP General News (Australia)
12-25-2010
QLD:Tropical cyclone Tasha crosses Qld coast
By Lisa Martin
BRISBANE, Dec 25 AAP - A faltering tropical cyclone Tasha crossed the far north Queensland
coast between Cairns and Innisfail on Christmas morning.
Bureau of meteorology senior forecaster Greg Browning told AAP the fading category
one cyclone made land about 5.30am (AEST) south of Cairns.
"It's steadily weakening, the winds have dropped off significantly now that it has
passed over land," he said.
" (But) there's still a lot of rainfall associated with the system."
Mr Browning said the cyclone was at the low end of the scale when it crossed between
the townships of Gordonvale and Babinda.
"It was the weakest that a cyclone can be," he said.
"The only gale-force winds we did observe were offshore over the water.
"Once it impacted land we haven't seen any gale-force winds there, there probably were
some localised areas that had some borderline gale force winds."
Mr Browning stressed that flooding was the main concern.
"The rain is going to be the issue," he said.
"There's areas of localised flooding to the south of Cairns.
"There's been some pretty significant rainfall figures between Cairns and north of
Mackay overnight."
Meanwhile, Mr Browning said a second low pressure system in the Gulf of Carpentaria
was not likely to reach tropical cyclone intensity.
"(The system) does look like it will intensify in the next few days but it depends
on its movements," he said.
"It doesn't look like it will stay in the Gulf of Carpentaria long enough to develop
into a tropical cyclone... but things can change between now and then."
Goldsborough Valley recorded 279mm, the next highest rainfall was Corsis with 277mm,
followed by Topaz with 276mm.
Cairns received less than 100mm of rain.
Atherton Tablelands resident Bronwen Scott told AAP she expected some damage to her
rainforest block property.
"It's still too windy to go outside and assess the damage, but there are very large
branches lying in the garden," she said.
"The wind is still gusting strongly and there's rain, but it's nowhere near as torrential
as it was earlier.
"Plenty of loud snapping and cracking sounds overnight, so I'm expecting a few trees
over in the forest and probably across the road as well.
"Very heavy rain turned the back garden into a creek, but that's gone down now.
"A couple of pademelons (small marsupials) slept on the patio. It wasn't perfectly
dry, but it certainly beat the forest for comfort."
Ms Scott said she would keep an eye on the nearby river.
"I'm about 500 metres from the North Johnstone River and it sounds like a motorway.
Normally it's a distant murmur," she said.
The State Disaster Coordinator, Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Ian Stewart,
said it was vital that people stay tuned for warnings and alert their neighbours.
Authorities have also warned of the dangers of floodwaters.
"As north Queenslanders prepare to visit family and loved ones for Christmas, emergency
authorities are warning to avoid unnecessary travel," Deputy Commissioner Stewart said
in a statement.
"In the rush to see friends and family, people may think they're bullet-proof and sadly,
some may attempt to cross flooded roads and causeways.
"This practice is deadly and we're pleading with motorists to stay out of floodwaters.
"I couldn't think of a worse day to have to tell relatives their loved one has died
trying to make their way to them by entering floodwaters.
"It's simply not worth the risk," Deputy Commissioner Stewart said.
Emergency services are on standby to assist
Ergon energy spokesman Mark Timmerman told AAP power was cut to about 6000 homes in
far north Queensland from about 3am (AEST).
He said the main areas affected included Gordonvale, Mission Beach, Atherton Tablelands
and Mourilyan Harbour.
Power cuts are not widespread, he said.
"Crews are responding on the coast but our crews on the Tablelands at the moment are
sitting tight waiting for the worst of the weather to pass, it's still very windy up there,"
he said.
"Just for their safety, they're waiting for that wind to die down and then they'll
go out and do their assessments."
Mr Timmerman said the power outages were mainly caused by trees falling on power lines
AAP lpm/it
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