TC Bianca & Anthony

[J.F. Custom]

I gotta say, at this stage, that Yasi is not looking too flash hot to be in the path of...

Like we haven't had enough natural disasters.

Take care everyone in the 'flight path'; I hope it doesn't end as bad as it currently looks.

Strap down that tonewood stash. I'm sure many of us here will be watching and thinking of you all.

Jeremy.

[kiwigeo]

It's looking like my house is the bullseye for this Mofo. My poor little 50yo Queenslander shack is unfortunately not built to withstand a direct hit from a cat 4 cyclone. On the up side the whole house from the bearers to the studs to the weatherboards to the rafters are silky oak. So I could be building silky oak ukes exclusively for a while.

The dog and I be riding this one out at a mates nice new block house. The misses is part of the council disaster team and will ride it out in the council's "war room". It might even disturb her sleep. maybe.

Getting out is a good call IMHO Liam. I hope the house survives the cyclone...if any assistance is required from the rest of us here on the forum then let us know. Ditto for Allen and others in the path of this monster.

[Allen]

It was a full on day at work today bringing anything and everything indoors. Putting welders etc. up high. The panel shop is only 600 mm above high tide so it's looking like it's going to get a little wet.

We dynabolted the roller doors down in three places each and used out frame straightening chains to lash things like the industrial bins together. In Larry, which only brush Cairns the bins were tossed around like match boxes.

At home the neighbour helped me wrap with black plastic and tape the whirlly gigs up on the roof and shed. The shed and garage doors are fastened shut and I'm pushing up the work bench and table saw against them to help stop them from blowing in.

Cairns is more or less shut down as of today until further notice. Looks like until Friday when the dust settles or the water recedes.

It's a really scary thing I don't mind saying, especially since it was such a beautiful day today.

[kiwigeo]

Allen, Ive got a couple of futons I can chuck down in the spare room if you want to jump on a plane and head south.

[Nick]

Got my fingers crossed for all you north easters, apparently due to hit the coast at about midnight NZ time so 9ish your time. Noho Ora, Kia Kaha- stay safe, be strong. (apologies to any te reo speakers out there for my possible butchery of the language! )

[Clancy]

Liam, if your place is 50 years old I'd say it's already withstood quite a few big blows.
Maybe you should bunker down in it rather than trust an untested 'modern' building, probably built to those 'modern' standards by 'modern' tradesmen.

Anyways, I'll be putting up a big net to catch everyone's tonewood as it's blows through.
Allen, Liam, even Taff, can you put the good stuff on top so it blows the furthest - wouldn't want it falling short of me.
Oh, and Mr Hamley, wrap that lovely lap slide guitar up good please. It may get a bit of a bump or 2 on the way out here.

Hang on tight guys, I don't reckon it's gonna be any fun.
Good luck, we're thinking of you.

[DarwinStrings]

Good luck guys, that cat 4 looks like a real mongrel.

Jim

[kiwigeo]

Good luck guys, that cat 4 looks like a real mongrel.

Jim

BAMF

[liam_fnq]

Liam, if your place is 50 years old I'd say it's already withstood quite a few big blows.
Maybe you should bunker down in it rather than trust an untested 'modern' building, probably built to those 'modern' standards by 'modern' tradesmen.

Anyways, I'll be putting up a big net to catch everyone's tonewood as it's blows through.
Allen, Liam, even Taff, can you put the good stuff on top so it blows the furthest - wouldn't want it falling short of me.
Oh, and Mr Hamley, wrap that lovely lap slide guitar up good please. It may get a bit of a bump or 2 on the way out here.

Hang on tight guys, I don't reckon it's gonna be any fun.
Good luck, we're thinking of you.

Craig, If you saw the state of my roof you'd be worried. There's patches on the patches. The rafters are skew nailed to the top plates and the battens are nailed to the rafters. The roof sheets were just nailed to the battens til i came along. In fact there's probably not one screw in the whole house. That's how it was done in the good old days.
The tonewood stash maybe used to board up the windows. If its looking like it might blow your way I'll be forced to burn it.

Martin the flights out today on qantas were $1000. Gotta ensure the rich survive.

The house is fully insured. The new shed hasn't been started yet. And if any of you bastards are thinking of coming up for some looting Allen's stash is much larger and generally nicer than mine.

[Bob Connor]

And if any of you bastards are thinking of coming up for some looting Allen's stash is much larger and generally nicer than mine.

What was Allens Address again?

Was just reading that it may develop into a cat 5 monster with 300KPH winds.

You blokes keep your heads down up there.

[ozziebluesman]

Hey Clancy the lap slide was delivered to it's new owner tonight!

This event is a big worry alright. Beautiful warm night here with a light breeze but that's going to change damn soon! We look like getting a cat 2 here but that could change anytime soon. There is a big gum tree in my neighbours yard that I am nervous about and I hope it stays there!

To my friends Allen, Karen and Liam, stay safe.

Head down here!

Cheers

Alan

[J.F. Custom]

And if any of you bastards are thinking of coming up for some looting Allen's stash is much larger and generally nicer than mine.

Oooh I dunno Liam... Bit partial to some quartered silky myself and if you have got a WHOLE house of it...

Crossing my fingers it doesn't literally get blown away mate; for more reasons than one

Seriously, take care you lot.

Jeremy.

[sebastiaan56]

I sat through a Cat 3 on Daydream Island once. There was a lot of force in that puppy but fortunately the place was made of concrete so there was no real damage. Cant imagine a 4 or 5. Ive flooded three times this year as well. A good year to forget. Good luck.

[Steve]

Everytime you look, this one seems to get worse. Take it easy guys.

SEVERE TC YASI IS A LARGE AND VERY POWERFUL TROPICAL CYCLONE AND POSES AN EXTREMELY SERIOUS THREAT TO LIFE AND PROPERTY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN PORT DOUGLAS AND TOWNSVILLE.
THIS IMPACT IS LIKELY TO BE MORE LIFE THREATENING THAN ANY EXPERIENCED DURING RECENT GENERATIONS.
The Cyclone has now reached CATEGORY 5 and will continue to move in a west-southwesterly direction during today.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

[Luke]

My best wishes to you folk in the storm path.
Hope you and your family's stay safe.

[kiwigeo]

Martin the flights out today on qantas were $1000. Gotta ensure the rich survive.

That's outrageous they really are a scummy airline. The government is shouting tourists a free trip out of Cairo and those people have less chance of getting hurt than the residents of Cairns.

[Allen]

Wind is just picking up now and the rain is starting at my place. The windows are taped up. Everything that could become air born is locked inside.

We were getting sms and automated calls to our phones throughout the night to tell everyone to get the hell out of low areas by 8 am this morning.

Clouds have come in and are racing overhead.

I went into town at 6am to pick up a mate and his family that are now staying at our place. It was like a ghost town in there.

[Allen]

Noon now and it's getting a bit wild.

The weather station on Willis Island has been taken out a little while ago. Eye of the cyclone is 35km across and will take an hour to cross the coast when it hits land. Looks like that is going to happen south of Cairns, between Innisfail and Cardwell they just said on the update. That's about 60 to 120 km south of my place.

It's now getting very gusty and the birds are wondering what's going on. They are sounding quite panicked.

[Lillian]

Geeze what have you guys done to piss off Mother Nature so damn bad this year? What ever it was, say your sorry and quit mucking around.

Guys, please be safe. Things can be replaced, you can't.

[kiwigeo]

It's now getting very gusty and the birds are wondering what's going on. They are sounding quite panicked.

How many birds can you pack into your workshop and house?

[Allen]

I don't mind of those bloody Indian Myna birds get blown to WA but the little native honey eaters are trying to find a place to roost right now.

The rain has just started to come down in earnest.

[Kim]

Good luck Al and the rest of the banana benders, hope you all come through this OK, she's a scary one no doubt. Allen, please keep us posted here if you can, I am sure I speak for all when I say there is genuine concern for you guys.

Safety and good fortune in adversity be with you all.

Kim

[liam_fnq]

I'm at a mate's in the next valley over from Allen. It's still pretty quiet here. Light drizzle. The dogs are still outside. Might leave them out there if they don't settle down.
As Allen said the eye will probably cross south of us. That's a slight relief for us but obviously not for others.
Cricket has started and you know what that means

[ozziebluesman]

Light swirling rain here in Townsville right now.

We are as ready as possible!

I will report in later on as long as the power supply stays.

Good luck you guys up north.

Cheers

Alan

[Allen]

It's calmed down some now. Only scatted bits of rain and the occasional gust. Cockies are in my lemon tree again but we've left them get a feed,as they're most likely going to be stripped from the tree by tomorrow.

Ooops, not calm anymore. The trees are starting to whip around alot and some small branches flying off of a big tree across the street from me.