A terrifying cyclone barreling towards Australia strengthened to the most dangerous threat level yesterday, shaping up as one most lethal storms in the country’s history.
As the winds whipped up by Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi began wreaking havoc along Queensland coast, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh warned the state’s 1 million residents it was too late to escape “the most catastrophic storm to ever hit our coast.”
Yasi, the worst storm in a century, was expected to slam into the coast around midnight last night, the Bureau of Meteorology said, after it was upgraded early in the day to a category five storm from category four.
“This impact is likely to be more life-threatening than any experienced during recent generations,” it said in an ominous warning ahead of the first category five storm to hit the area since 1918.
Wild advance winds tore the roof off a building near where 500 people were taking shelter in Innisfail, which lies directly in Yasi’s path, Innisfail Mayor Bill Shannon said.
“The eye is five hours away and it’s already causing damage so it’s pretty worrying,” he told the AAP news agency as Yasi churned 175km northeast of the town.
Power lines and trees were felled along the coast by early gusts, with an offshore weather station clocking 185kph winds before it was destroyed. Yasi, which measures up to 800km across, was on course to hit the area between Innisfail, south of the tourist hub of Cairns, and Cardwell, 100km south of Innisfail.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Yasi looked like the worst cyclone in Australian history and said the nation was with Queenslanders as they faced “many, many dreadful, frightening hours” waiting for it to strike.
“This is probably the worst cyclone that our nation has ever seen. In the hours of destruction that are coming to them, all of Australia is going to be thinking of them,” Gillard said.
Yasi was expected to generate highly destructive winds of up to 295kph, up to 700mm of rain and storm surges that are threatening to flood towns and tourist resorts.
The storm is so enormous that it would almost cover the US or large parts of Europe, News Ltd newspapers reported. People further from the seafront who did not evacuate were told to batten down and prepare a “safe room,” like a bathroom or a basement, with mattresses, pillows, a radio, food and water supplies to wait out the cyclone.
Thousands of people have already fled the area and seaside residents were urged to desert their homes ahead of a dangerous storm surge of between 2.3m and 7m that was likely to cause major flooding.
Airports and ports in Cairns and other cities along the coast were shut to traffic yesterday as winds gathered strength.
More than 10,000 people were sheltering in 20 evacuation centers across the region — some so packed that people were turned away — while tens of thousands more were staying with family and friends.
Anticipating a massive relief operation, the military was readying supply ships with aircraft landing capability to help with search and rescue once the storm passed.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique