Queensland braces for system to make landfall tomorrow
The Queensland fire and emergency service has bolstered its teams on the ground in far North Queensland ahead of tropical cyclone Jasper making landfall tomorrow. Assistant Commissioner Brad Commens says these are the final moments for residents to prepare.
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TVTranscript
00:00 The wind is coming up now. It has been raining on and off for the last couple of hours and
00:05 this is in the preparation for the storm or for the cyclone to cross the coast likely
00:10 tomorrow morning between Port Douglas and Cooktown tomorrow.
00:15 Okay, so in terms of preparation then, what should people be doing now to make sure that
00:20 that's safe?
00:22 Look, now it's right at the end of the period where you can actually prepare your home but
00:28 now is certainly the last opportunity you've got to make sure that people's homes are prepared.
00:34 Anything that's outside that can be blown around should be secured and tied down and
00:39 people that are in low-lying areas have been issued with a prepare to leave warning to
00:44 ensure that they are out of the area when the storm surge comes around about 10 o'clock
00:49 tomorrow morning, which we are expecting a storm surge about half a metre above the highest
00:55 astronomical tide in the Port Douglas and Palm Cove area.
01:00 So is it flooding or wind that you're most concerned about?
01:05 Look there's multi-facets to a cyclone, certainly the wind, the rain, but in this situation
01:11 the storm surge on the southern side of the eye of the cyclone combined with the high
01:16 tide at about 10 o'clock will compound that flooding issue. Some of that flooding can
01:22 come quite a way inland so people that are on that eastern seaboard and are in low-lying
01:28 areas should make preparations to go and stay with friends now.
01:31 So are you advising them to do that or are evacuation centres prepared to take people?
01:39 The Cairns LDMG, Local Disaster Management Group, has opened two storm shelters and they
01:45 are available for people who are in the red and orange zones and people can check whether
01:51 they're in the red and orange zones by searching 'storm surge' on the internet and that will
01:55 provide you with maps of where your home is. It must be remembered that the cyclone shelters
02:03 are not open to people who are outside the orange and red zones.
02:08 So the area is a popular tourist destination, are there many tourists around at the moment?
02:14 I guess it's not peak season is it, but what have they been told?
02:20 Look it's not peak season at the moment but the same message goes out to everybody whether
02:24 they're locals or tourists and that is if it's flooded forget it. Do not drive through
02:28 floodwaters because you don't know what's in those floodwaters and also children should
02:34 not be playing in floodwaters. Floodwaters are not a place for kids to play so parents
02:38 should keep an eye on their kids and make sure they're not actually out there putting
02:42 themselves in danger. Unfortunately when children do or people do become involved in flooded
02:48 events our staff and our volunteers have to then go in and rescue those people and that
02:53 is not what we want.
02:54 There are lots of people reportedly who are new to the area who moved their Brad during
02:59 COVID and who haven't been faced with this situation before. What's your advice to them?
03:04 Should they be feeling nervous?
03:07 Look depending on where they live, if they live in higher areas it's certainly going
03:11 to be a more intense storm than we normally see being a cyclone. Those people that do
03:18 live in the low lying areas and the areas closer to the beach around Trinity Beach,
03:23 Port Douglas, Palm Cove, they should be prepared. They should prepare to leave if they are in
03:28 the low lying areas but we do ask people to not drive around on the roads tomorrow morning
03:35 as the cyclone is crossing. There is no need for people to be out on the road at that point.
03:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]