Fears of high tide surge
CYCLONE Debbie is expected to hit the North Queensland coast on the day of a new moon, with fears the high tides may contribute to a damaging storm surge.
Tides are forecast to reach a high of 3.67m in the region about 9am on Tuesday.
Cyclone Debbie was forecast late yesterday to begin crossing the coast between Rollingstone and Proserpine early Tuesday morning.
Australian Institute of Marine Science oceanographer Craig Steinberg said, if the cyclone coincided with a high tide, “any storm surge could be at its worst.”
“It depends on the cyclone itself,” he said. “The good thing about Yasi was it occurred near low tide and the surge that was attributed to the cyclone was 5.3m.”
Mr Steinberg said in a worst case scenario the storm surge could reach up to 6m.
“An extra 3m is a lot of water,” he said.
“The timing is critical. “If the cyclone is delayed by six hours or is early by six hours then it will be at low tide and will be far less damaging.
“The other thing you have are waves on top of the tide — you might have very significant waves to the south of the eye.
“They will break as they approach the coast but there can be a physical impact.”
Residents also flocked to the region’s tips in a bid to clear any rubbish and green waste from their yards.