Repairs essential as cyclone season nears
FAR North Queenslanders have been urged to carry out maintenance on their homes this month before a “near-average” cyclone season predicted for the region.
Four cyclones are expected to form in waters off Queensland’s east coast, including the Far North, this summer.
The Northern region, which includes western Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria, is forecast to have three.
Overall, 11 cyclones are predicted to form around Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology in its annual Tropical Cyclone Outlook for 2017/18.
That figure is on par with the average of 10-13 severe storms each year.
The bureau said the forecast had been influenced by neutral to weak La Nina-like conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean and slightly warmerthan-average ocean temperatures to the north and east of Australia.
Bureau of Meteorology acting state manager for Queensland Victoria Dodds said a severe weather season was well under way with a very active start to Queensland’s fire season.
“Severe thunderstorms and flash-flooding are a common feature of the Queensland summer, as we have just seen in Bundaberg,” Ms Dodds said.
“While the tropical cyclone outlook points to a typical season, as we saw earlier this year with Severe Tropical Cyclone Debbie, one event can have a devastating effect on a number of communities.”
SES Far Northern regional director Wayne Coutts said there would be no change to the service’s usual preparations for cyclone season.
“We approach every year the same, expecting the highest number of cyclones we can attain,” Mr Coutts said.
“This is a perfect opportunity for people to do preventive maintenance on their homes, making sure there’s no rust on their screws and that sort of stuff, that previous events that they’ve been through haven’t loosened up the iron or gutters or whatever,” he said.