cyclone ita strikes australia 10-11 april 2014

CYCLONE ITA: APRIL 10, 2011

CYCLONE ITA STRIKES AUSTRALIA

April 10-11, 2014

AUSTRALIA (Note: Queensland)

CYCLONE ITA: APRIL 10, 2011

AWAITING ITA’s LANDFALL

LANDFALL: APRIL 11, 2014 AROUND 10:00 PM

THE FORECAST

• Wind gusts of up to 280 kph (175 mph) and heavy rainfall were forecast by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

EVACUATIONS

• Anticipating heavy rainfall, 30,000 were evacuated from low-lying areas known to be susceptible to flooding.

SOME GOOD NEWS

• Wind gusts of up to 280 kmh (175 mph) were forecast by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, - - -

• But, Ita weakened to a category 4 storm just before making landfall.

• AND, Ita’s landfall was along a portion of the coast that is lightly populated,

• so, - - -

SOME GOOD NEWS

• - - - SO, damage was much less than the $3.6 billion price tag of the last Category 4 cyclone that hit Australia’s Queensland State in 2011 —CYCLONE YASI.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACTS

• Impacts were comprised mainly of power outages, downed trees, damaged houses, and flooding from the heavy rainfall, but NO DEATHS yet.

• Large parts of the 1,000 strong Aboriginal community of Hope Vale and Cooktown, population 2,400, lost power.

REMEMBERING CYCLONE YASI

CYCLONE YASI STRCK NORTHERN QUEENSLAND

STATE, AUSTRALIA

The CAT 5 monster storm made landfall with winds gusting to 300 km/hr

FEBRUARY 2-3, 2011

CYCLONE YASI: FROM A TROPICAL DISTURBANCE (JAN 25) TO A CAT 5

CYCLONE YASI NEARING LANDFALL: FEBRUARY 2, 2011

500 KM (300 MI) WIDE CYCLONE YASI: FEBRUARY 2, 2011

CYCLONE YASI LANDFALL FORECAST: FEBRUARY 2, 2011

Cyclone Yasi made landfall at Mission Beach around

midnight, about 100 kilometers north of Ingham,

as a category 5 storm

The cyclone struck north of the area in Queensland that had already been severely impacted by flooding

a month earlier in January.

QUEENSLAND WAS RECOVERING FROM FLOODS IN JANUARY

With an “eye” by itself over 100 km wide, this storm was the worst cyclone in Australia's

history.

WIND PENETRATING BUILDING ENVELOPE

CYCLONESCYCLONES

UPLIFT OF ROOF SYSTEM

FLYING DEBRIS

STORM SURGE

IRREGULARITIES IN ELEVATION AND PLAN

SITING PROBLEMS

FLOODING AND LANDSLIDES

CAUSES OF DAMAGE

CAUSES OF DAMAGE

“DISASTER LABORATORIES”

“DISASTER LABORATORIES”

YASI’S INITIAL SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

• Roofs torn off houses• Trees uprooted• Thousands without power• Storm surge of up to 2 meters• Up to 700 mm of rain in 1-2 hours

SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACTS

• 10,000 people evacuated over a 2-day period to 20 evacuation centers

THE BAD NEWS

The combination of Yasi’s very heavy rainfall as it moved inland and a very high water table from the January flooding exacer-bated the socioeconomic impacts.

WORST FLOODING IN A DECADE

Floodwaters had drained slowly towards the country's northeast coast, filling bulging rivers and inundating at least 22 towns and cities in the cattle and fruit and vegetable farming region.

YASI’s IMPACTS

• Socioeconomic impacts for 200 thousand people included: industrial slow-down, evacuations, a plague of snakes and crocodiles, health care problems, missing persons, 35 deaths, and losses of 3.6 Billion.